LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


& 

Received  ,  190 

Accession  No.        83458.  •    Class  No.     ;T: 


ffl 


HE  SCIENCE  3£  3f.  & 
OF  SOCIOLOGY 


tp  . 


er 

.   NEVILL 


The  Science  of  Sociology 


BY 


WALLACE  B.  NEVILL 


Published  by  the  Author 


SAN  FRANCISCO  : 
WALTER  N.  BRUNT,  PRINTER, 

535-537  Clay  Street. 
1901. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1901,  by 

Wallace  E.  Nevill,  in  the  office  of  the  librarian  of 

Congress  at  Washington. 

All  rights  reserved. 


SYNOPSIS. 


PART  I. 
CHAPTER  I. 

Evolution — Ancient  Civilization  —  Pagan  Philoso- 
phers not  Ignorant  of  Mechanical  Arts — Printing 
— Pyramids — Chinese  Wall — Locks  —  Malleable 
Glass — Wrought  Iron — Dentistry  —  Astronomy, 
etc. 

CHAPTER  II. 

Action  and  Re-action — Philosophical  and  Scientific 
Classification  and  Analysis  of  Governments — The 
Grand  Point  of  Political  Science — The  Ship  of 
State — The  Body  Politic — All  Governments  Nec- 
essarily of  "Mixed'*  Character — Aristocracy  an 
Essential  Principle,  etc. 

CHAPTER   III. 

Harmony — A  Political  Concert  —  American  "Kings" 
and  "Lords" — Activities  of  an  Exceptionally 
Gifted  Minority — Congenital  and  Social  Inequal- 
ities— Ambition-^Equali'ty  Plausible  but  Unjust 
— Abnormal  Development  of  Aristocratic  Prin- 
ciple, How  Caused — Etc. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Shall  We  Have  Titles  ?— Character  the  Ground  of 
Distinction — The  Power  of  Example,  Both  for 
Good  and  111 — Each  man  should  Secure  an  Intro- 
duction to  Himself — "Self"  Government,  etc. 


83458 


PART  II. 
CHAPTER  V. 

"Chess  Nuts,"  or  the  Science  of  Society — Emblems 
— Parables — Chess  a  Model  of  Society — Not  Ideal 
but  Actual — Exhibits  Human  Nature  as  It  Is — 
Gentlemanly  Instincts,  Chivalry — Slaves  Make 
Tyrants  Rather  Than  Tyrants  Slaves — "Pawns" 
are  Rewarded — King's  Power  Limited  —  The 
Queen,  Her  Gracious  Majesty — The  "Better 
Half" — Heredity — Education — Chess  and  theKin- 
dergarten  System — Cramming — Professor  Experi- 
ence—"White",  "Black",  "Red"  Men— Chinese 
Great  Players  and  Don't  You  Forget  It — Insanity 
and  Genius — The  Author  Is  Very  Proud  of  His 
"Uncle  Sam,"  etc. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Material  the  "Men"  are  Made  of  ;•< Wood",  "Gold", 
"Brass",  "Iron"— Do  They  Move  Voluntarily  or 
are  They  Moved? — Various  Opinions  Presented — 
Socrates  and  Cicero — The  Vanity  of  Dogmatism 
— An  Eternal  Imperishable  Principle  Governs  the 
Entire  Universe — Nature — Shall  a  Man  Fight 
Against  Himself? — To  Thine  Own  Self  Be  True 
— And  Is  This  America  the  Land  of  the  "Free" 
etc. 


The  Science  of  Sociology. 


PART   I. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Students  of  the  evolution  through  which  our  system  of  gov- 
ernment is  going  have  been  giving  much  attention  of  late  to 
the  increasing  power  of  the  Senate The  laws  of  evolu- 
tion apply  to  governments  as  to  individuals,  and  when  once  a 
certain  tendency  of  growth  has  been  firmly  set,  the  progress  in 
that  direction  is  apt  to  be  rapid. 

—  The  Call  editorial,  San  Francisco,  Feb.  21,  1901. 

Herbert  Spencer  says  "EVOLUTION"  is 
the  universal  law  displayed  alike  in  the  devel- 
opment of  a  planet  and  of  every  seed  which 
germinates  upon  its  surface.  Undoubtedly, 
every  organism  in  all  Nature,  tree,  plant, 
animal — grows  from  its  seed  after  its  kind, 
through  progressive  stages,  to<  maturity  and 
consequent  perfection,  unless  there  happens 
some  unnatural  or  arbitrary  interference 
with  its  unfoldment.  Illustrations  of  this 
universal  law — this  "metamorphosis" — are 


Herbert 
Spencer. 


Shakespeare. 


Le  Conte. 


Hume. 


found  in  every  barn  yard  and  in  every  gar- 
den, "EGG,  LARVA,  PUPA,  IMAGO, 
FOR  EXAMPLE/'  In  a  plant  we  see  the 
blade,  the  ear,  and  after  that  the  full  corn  in 
the  ear.  In  the  "genus  homo,"  we  have  first 
the  infant  "MULING  AND  PUKING  IN 
THE  NURSE'S  ARMS,"  and  then  the 
"WHINING  SCHOOLBOY/'  etc.,  etc., 
and  on  up  to  manhood  "HIS  ACTS  BEING 
SEVEN  AGES."  We  must  reflect,  how- 
ever, that  man  individually,  apparently,  loses 
all  he  has  gained,  and  lands  at  last  "SANS 
EVERYTHING."  Moreover,  at  times, 
"THE  PROGRESS  IN  THAT  DIREC- 
TION IS  APT  TO  BE  RAPID." 

Now  "Evolution"  is  continuous  progres- 
sive change  from  resident  forces. 

IS  SOCIETY  AN  ORGANISM? 

If  the  laws  of  evolution  apply  to  govern- 
ments why  have  we  not  a  perfect  social  state 
by  this  time?  Why  did  Mr.  Hume  find  it  nec- 
essary to  write  an  essay  "THAT  POLITICS 


MIGHT  BE  REDUCED  TO  A 
SCIENCE?''  Why  does  Mr.  Mallock,  in 
our  own  time,  confess  "WE  HAVE  NOT  Mallock. 
ANY  SCIENCE  OF  SOCIETY7'?  What 
has  "Evolution"  been  doing  for  the 
past  two  thousand  years?  Does  it  work  for 
a  little  time  and  then  go  to  sleep  for  a  peri- 
od? If  not,  how  does  "YE  EDITOR,"  who 
knows  what  "STUDENTS"  have  been 
doing  of  late,  account  for  the  "DARK 
AGES"  following  so  closely  upon  the  splen- 
did civilizations  of  Greece  and  Rome?  If 
Society  be  an  organism,  and  evolution  the 
law,  wherein  can  we  trace  continuous  "PRO- 
GRESSIVE" CHANGE?  Here  are  we, 
confronted  with  problems  which  have  been 
discussed  from  every  conceivable  standpoint, 
by  all  the  master  minds  back  through  the 
ages  into  the  remotest  antiquity,  and  now 
things  are  so  fixed  that  "EVOLUTION"  is 
going  to  do  what  they  failed  to  accomplish!! 

ALFRED    RUSSELL  WALLACE  actu-  Wallace. 
ally  gives  us  a  list  of  the  great  inventions 


8 

and  discoveries  of  the  I9th  Century,  and 
claims  that  we  have  thereby,and  therein,made 
more  progress  than  in  all  the  centuries  pre- 
ceding put  together.  Whilst  I  confess  a 
great  admiration  for  Mr.  Wallace,  on  account 
of  his  scientific  researches  and  attainments, 
yet  I  fail  to  understand  why  his  illuminated 
mind  should  be  yet  darkened  with  the  vanity 
and  conceit  of  twentieth  century  egotism. 
All  scholars  delight  to  drink  at  the  fountains 
of  learning  and  genius  of  men  who  lived 
thousands  of  years  ago;  and,  if  they  are  uni- 
versally admitted  and  admired  as  our  precep- 
tors in  philosophy,  can  we  consistently  think 
of  them  as  having  been  ignorant  of  mechan- 
ical arts? 

I  understand  very  well,  it  is  not  good  to  be 
like  a  man  with  his  head  fastened  on  his  body 
the  wrong  way,  so  that,  whilst  he  claims  to 
be  moving  forward  he  is  yet  looking  back- 
ward. Nevertheless,  it  is  good  at  times,  by 
retrospective  glances,  to  stir  up  our  pure 
minds  by  way  of  remembrance.  In  our  zeal 


to  let  the  dead  past  bury  its  dead,  and  in  our 
altruism  and  sanguine  hopefulness  as  to  the 
future,  it  is  well,  also,  to  bear  in  mind  the 
lessons  of  the  past  and  the  facts  of  the  pres- 
ent. More  especially  helpful  seems  a  little  of 
this  MENTAL  PABULUM  just  now  when 
all  the  world  is  bowing  down  to  worship  the 
NEW  "GOD"  OP  "EVOLUTION." 

We  have  certain  account  of  a  library 
founded  at  Athens  500  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  In  the  burning  of  the  Alex- 
andrian Library,  400,000  valuable  books  are 
said  to  have  been  lost.  A  second  library  hav- 
ing been  formed  from  the  remains  of  the 
first,  at  Alexandria,  and  reputed  to  have  con- 
sisted of  700,000  volumes,  was  totally  de- 
stroyed by  the  Saracens,  who  heated  the 
water  for  their  baths  for  six  months,  by  burn- 
ing books  instead  of  wood. 

"But"  (says  someone)  "THESE  WERE 
ONLY  MANUSCRIPTS."  If  such  were 
indeed  the  case,  yet  no  one  can  read  the 


10 

splendid  fragments  preserved  to  us  from  the 
majestic  minds  of  antiquity,  and  fail  to  ap- 
Ciccro.  preciate  "THE  GLORY  AND  THE  GRAV- 

ITY OF  THEIR  GENIUS." 

The  essential  factor  in  the  dissemination  of 
knowledge  in  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  our 
progressive  civilization,  is  the  ART  OF 
PRINTING.  A  moment's  reflection  will 
suffice  to  show  the  impossibility  of  believing 
that  knowledge  could  ever  have  spread  over 
the  earth,  or  indeed  any  considerable  portion 
of  it,  without  the  use  of  this  art.  It  is  true 
we  have  always  been  taught  to  think  of  the 
ancients  as  ignorant  of  it.  On  the  one  hand 
their  writings  are  assiduously  read  and 
studied  by  those  who  realize  their  need  of 
preceptors  in  universal  philosophy;  and  on 
the  other  hand  these  same  men  are  called 
"PAGANS"  as  though  we  sneered  at  their 
barbarism  and  ignorance.  Yet  no  one  is  con- 
sidered a  scholar,  or  learned,  unless  he  has 
assimilated  their  wrisdom,  with  ability  to  make 
application  of  it  to  modern  needs. 


II 

That  the  Ancients  understood  how  to  print 
symbolical  figures  and  hieroglyphic  charac- 
ters on  bricks  it  is  sense  to  admit,  because 
evidences  and  demonstrations  of  such  work 
are  on  exhibition  in  every  museum  in  the 
world;  but,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  NONSENSE 
to  credit  them  with  only  that  extent  of  know- 
ledge as  to  the  art.  Think,  fo.r  a  moment,  of 
the  old  Latin  word  "IMPREMERE,"  from 
which  we  have  derived  our  word  printing. 
Unless,  forsooth,  the  meaning  of  the  word 
has  changed,  the  word  impremere,  descrip- 
tive of  the  art,  act,  or  practice,  of  impressing 
characters  or  letters  upon  paper,  cloth,  or 
other  material — the  word  indicative  of  the 
process,  is  as  old  as  the  Latin  language. 
Take  our  word  "Phonograph,"  The  inven- 
tion, and  the  word  to  describe  it,  are  CO- 
TEMPORANEOUS.  The  word  is  the 
symbol  of  the  idea  of  the  thing,  and  as  such 
word  does  not  exist  till  the  thing  is  made. 
Just  how  those  old  Latin  people  could  use  a 
word  descriptive  of  a  mechanical  process  if 


12 

that  process  were  to  them  unknown,  I  am  at 
a  loss  to  understand.  Moreover,  it  seems  an 
impossibility  to  imagine  how  they  ever  could 
have  attained  the  magnificence  of  their  phil- 
osophy and  their  civilization  without  it.  This 
reasoning  does  not  detract  one  iota  from  the 
credit  due  to  the  modern  discoverers,  Pi 
Shing,  Guthenberg,  or  Loorens  Jansoon 
Coster.  But  it  is  well  for  us  to  bear  in  mind 
that  a  controversy  has  raged  for  four  hun- 
dred years  as  to  where,  when,  and  by  whom 
the  art  of  printing  was  invented.  Some 
"AUTHORITIES"  have  decided  that  Haar- 
lem was  the  cradle  of  printing;  but  this  will 
not  at  all  suit  the  compilers  of  the  American 
Dictionary  of  printing,  for  they  say  "IF 
ofTinting'.  HAARLEM  WAS  THE  CRADLE  OF 
PRINTING  IT  WAS  A  CRADLE  FROM 
WHICH  THE  CHILD  DISAPPEARED 
VERY  EARLY."  Moreover,  the  same  au- 
thority proclaims  that  it  is  well  known  that 
printing  existed  in  China  for  a  number  of 
centuries  prior  to  the  discovery  of  the  art  in 


13 

Plolland  or  Germany.  Can  one  believe  that 
the  master  minds  of  Greece  and  Rome  were 
ignorant  of  an  art  which  had  been  brought 
to  perfection  in  China?  Yet  even  if  the 
Greeks  and  Romans  knew  not  of  it,  the 
Chinese  did,  and  hence  this  point  having 
been  scored  for  antiquity  is  a  strong  one 
against  "evolution."  Unless  forsooth,  "evo- 
lution" is  made  to  include  all  of  decay,  cor- 
ruption, and  death  and  loss  as  a  part  of  its 
"PROGRESSIVE  CHANGE." 

Besides,  there  is  so  much  internal  evidence 
scattered  throughout  the  pages  of  the  works 
of  the  Philosophers  of  Greece  and  Rome, 
that  abundant  material  can  readily  be  col- 
lected to  establish  the  art  of  printing  as  cer- 
tainly known  to  them,  because  no  explana- 
tion suggests  itself  more  readily,  nor  does 
any  other  appear  even  as  a  reasonable  hy- 
pothesis. For  instance,  in  Plato-Parmenides 
we  read  "A  LOVE  OF  CONTROVERSY  Plato. 
LED  ME  TO  WRITE  THE  BOOK  IN 
THE  DAYS  OF  MY  YOUTH,  AND 


14 

SOME  ONE  STOLE  THE  COPY, 
THEREFORE,  I  HAD  NO  CHOICE  OF 
WHETHER  IT  SHOULD  BE  PUB- 
LISHED OR  NOT." 

In  a  word,  an  enterprising  printer  pur- 
loined the  manuscript  and  "published"  it  in 
book  form,  regardless  of  copyright. 

Plutarch.  Plutarch   tells   of  Alexander  that   he   was 

naturally  a  great  lover  of  all  kinds  of  learning 
and  reading.  He  constantly  laid  Homer's 
Iliad,  according  to  the  copy  corrected  by  Ar- 
istotle called  the  "casket  copy,"  with  his  dag- 
ger under  his  pillow,  declaring  that  he  es- 
teemed it  a  perfect  portable  treasure  of  all 
military  virtue  and  knowledge.  If  the  "stu- 
dent of  evolution"  will  picture  to  himself  the 
size  of  the  Iliad  in  "MANUSCRIPT,"  he 
will  naturally  conclude  such  a  large  and 
bulky  composition  would  not  make  a  very 
comfortable  foundation  FOR  A  PILLOW. 

It  is  also  stated  in  another  place  of  this 
same  Alexander,  that  he  reproached  Aris- 
totle for  publishing  his  philosophy  to  the 


15 

world.  He  surely  did  not  find  fault  with  his 
great  teacher  for  committing  his  sublime 
philosophy  to  "MANUSCRIPT";  but  he  did 
find  fault  with  him  for  "PUBLISHING"  it. 
It  was  this  aspect. of  the  manei  which  raised 
objections  in  the  mind  of  Alexander,  who  did 
not  like  the  thought  of  the  "DEMOCRACY" 
having  opportunity  to  acquire  that  which  he 
claimed  as  an  aristocratic  prerogative,  for, 
says  he  "I  WOULD  RATHER  SURPASS 
MANKIND  IN  KNOWLEDGE  THAN 
IN  POWER." 

Again,  in  Plutarch's  Life  of  Caesar,  men- 
tion is  made  of  the  fact  that  Cicero  had  writ- 
ten an  econium  upon  Cato.  Plutarch  does 
not  say  that  quite  a  number  of  persons  read 
the  original  manuscript,  or  that  they  labor- 
iously made  copies  for  a  few  friends;  but  he 
uses  language  which  admits  of  no  interpreta- 
tion more  readily  than  that  a  book  had  been 
printed  and  published,  and  that  it  had  a  large 
circulation,  for  he  says:  "A  composition  by 
so  great  a  master  upon  so  excellent  a  sub- 


i6 

ject  WAS    SURE    TO    BE    IN    EVERY 
ONE'S  HANDS." 

Some  years  ago,  I  read,  in  Vol.  Ill,  page 
Gibbon.  81,  of  Gibbons'  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 

man Empire,  a  statement,  in  a  footnote  over 
the  signature  of  J.  B.  Bury,  M.  A.,  to  the 
effect  that  BOOKS  PRESERVED  BY 
THE  ART  OF  PRINTING  ARE 
STILL  "IN  THE  KING  OF  FRANCE'S 
LIBRARY."  I  wrote  to  the  Bibliotheque 
in  Paris,  but,  after  three  months  my  letter 
came  back  from  the  "dead"  marked  "insuffi- 
ciently addressed."  Not  at  all  discouraged  in 
my  search  for  some  concrete  example,  I  ad- 
dressed a  personal  letter  to  the  Hon.  John 
J.  K.  Gowdy.  K  Gowdy>  United  States  Consul  to  France. 
He  very  courteously  replied  as  follows:  "In 
reply  to  your  favor  regarding  the  works  of 
Sematsien  (or  Ise-mat-sieu)  which  you  say 
were  published  97  years  before  the  Christian 
era  and  are  still  in  the  King  of  France's  Li- 
brary, I  beg  to  inform  you  that  I  have  made 
searches  regarding  this  matter,  as  you  desire, 


17 

and  I  find  there  is  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nation- 
ale  at  Paris  many  works  by  this  famous 
Chinese  Historian.  They  are  entitled  "His- 
torical Memories  of  Ise-mat-sieu,"  but  the 
librarian  is  unable  to  give  the  date  they  were 
PUBLISHED  AND  PRINTED;  but  it  is 
very  possible  it  was  before  the  Christian  era 
*  *  *  jf  yOU  come  to  Paris  you  will  be  able 
to  see  the  books  in  the  library  *  *  *  THEY 
WERE  PRODUCED  BY  PRINTING  (or 
impression)  by  the  Chinese,  evidently  by  the 
means  of  engraved  blocks." 

If  any  "STUDENT  OF  EVOLUTION" 
desires  further  "CONCRETE  EXAM- 
PLES" I  refer  him  to  the  Sphinx  in  Egypt, 
which  covers  14  acres  at  the  base,  and  has  in 
it  material  enough  to  build  a  city  as  large  as 
Washington,  D.  C.  If  he  thinks  nothing  can 
be  learned  from  such  a  huge  pile,  but  as  it 
seems  to  him  to  illustrate  the  folly  of  so  much 
wasted  human  energy,  let  him  read  the  works 
of  Professor  Piazza  Smith,  Astronomer  Piazza  Smith. 
Royal  for  Scotland.  If  he  still  seeks  for 


i8 

"concrete  examples"  let  him  contemplate  the 
great  wall  of  China.  This  wall  extends  for 
1,500  miles  across  the  tops  of  high  mountains. 
In  some  places  it  is  25  feet  high  and  15  feet 
thick,  with  every  hundred  yards  or  so  a 
tower  or  massive  bastion.  The  stone  in  the 
foundations,  angles,  etc.,  is  a  strong  grey 
granite;  but  the  materials  for  the  greater 
part  consist  of  bluish  bricks,  and  the  mortar 
is  remarkably  pure  and  white.  This  wall  is 
known  to  have  been  in  existence  for  2,000 
years.  It  is  supposed  to  have  been  erected 
to  protect  three  Chinese  provinces  from  ir- 
ruptions of  the  Tartars.  But  if  the  Tartars 
are  thought  of  as  barbarians,  and  the  Chinese 
admittedly  a  highly  civilized  people  at  that 
time,  such  a  theory  is  seen  to  be  utterly  un- 
founded; for  surely  a  civilized'  people  does 
not  need  thus  to  protect  itself  against  barbar- 
ians. It  is  the  weaker  nation  which  builds 
its  wall  to  protect  itself  against  the  strong. 
Bishop  "WESTWARD  THE  COURSE  OF  EM- 

PIRE  TAKES  ITS  WAY." 


19 

China  is  the  "EAST."  "  Its  people  have 
been  for  ages  a  peace-loving  people.  Neces- 
sity, being  the  mother  of  invention,  com- 
pelled them,  in  desiring  to  keep  quietly  to 
themselves,  to  construct  barriers,  securing 
them  against  the  predatory  ravages  of  the 
"MILITARISM"  of  the  "WESTERN 
WORLD";  hence  this  monument  of  great- 
ness, this  imperishable  wall.  All  the  cities  of 
China  are  surrounded  by  high,  strong  walls, 
whose  massive  proportions  it  is  difficult  to 
comprehend,  unless  they  are  seen.  The  wall 
of  Pekin  is,  on  the  average,  fifty  feet  high. 
This  wall  is  sixty  six  feet  thick  at  the  bottom, 
and  fifty-four  at  the  top,  and  every  hundred 
yards  there  are  immense  buttresses.  There 
are  probably  A  THOUSAND  WALLED 
CITIES  IN  CHINA  whose  walls  will  aver- 
age twenty-five  feet  high  and  twenty 
feet  thick.  A  distinguished  writer  says 
that  the  whole  amount  of  wall  in 
China,  if  put  together,  would  build  a  wall 
twenty  feet  high  and  ten  feet  thick  around  the 


20 

globe,  and  would  require  FIVE  THOU- 
SAND MEN  WORKING  TWO  THOU- 
SAND YEARS  TO  BUILD.  In  a  book 

Buried  Cities  called  "BURIED  CITIES  RECOVERED/1 

Recovered.        .  .     .  ,        ,  .  .        - 

is  a  description  of  a  doorway  in  a  temple  of 

Jupiter  forty-two  feet  high  in  the  clear.  The 
keystone  to  the  arch  of  this  doorway  weighs 

De  Haas.  sixty  tons.  De  Haas  speaks  of  granite  quar- 
ries in  Egypt,  and  tells  of  one  huge  block 
ninety-five  feet  long  by  eleven  feet  square, 
partly  dressed,  from  some  cause  left  ly- 
ing in  the  quarry,  never  having  been  re- 
moved; moreover,  there  is  an  unfinished  tem- 
ple, also,  the  very  place  for  which  this  stone 

Wendell  was  designed.  WENDELL  PHILIPPS,  in 

his  lectures  on  the  lost  arts,  makes  the  follow- 
ing reference  to  the  moving  of  immense 
masses  of  stone  by  the  ancients:  "Taking 
their  employment  of  the  mechanical  forces, 
and  their  movement  of  large  masses  from  the 
earth,  we  know  that  they  had  the  five,  seven, 
cr  three  mechanical  powers;  but  we  cannot 
account  ("WE  CANNOT  ACCOUNT")  for 


as 

the  multiplication  and  increase  necessary  to 
perform  the  wonders  they  accomplished.  In 
Boston  lately,  we  have  moved  the  Pelham 
Hotel,  weighing  fifty  thousand  tons,  fourteen 
feet,  and  are  very  proud  of  it,  and  since  then 
we  moved  a  whole  block  of  houses  twenty- 
two  feet,  and  I  have  no  doubt  we  will  write  a 
book  about  it;  but  there  is  a  book  telling  how 
Dominico  Fontana,  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
set  up  the  Egyptian  obelisk  at  Rome  on  end, 
in  the  papacy  of  Sixtus  V.  Wonderful!  yet 
the  Egyptians  quarried  that  stone  and  car- 
ried it  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  the 
Romans  brought  it  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  and  never  said  a  word  about  it.  He 
also  tells  of  the  ventilation  of  the  Pyramids 
"IN  THE  MOST  PERFECT  AND  SCI- 
ENTIFIC MANNER."  Again,  cement  is 
modern,  for  the  ancients  dressed  and  jointed 
their  stones  so  closely  that  in  buildings  thou- 
sands of  years  old  the  thin  blade  of  a  pen- 
knife cannot  be  forced  between  them.  The 
railroad  dates  back  to  Egypt.  Arago  has 


22 

claimed  that  they  had  a  knowledge  of  steam. 
A  painting  has  been  discovered  of  a  ship  full 
of  machinery,  and  a  French  engineer  said 
that  the  arrangement  of  this  machinery 
could  ONLY  BE  ACCOUNTED  FOR  BY 
SUPPOSING  THE  MOTIVE  POWER 
TO  HAVE  BEEN  STEAM.  Brahama  ac- 
knowledges that  he  took  the  idea  of  his  cele- 
brated lock  from  an  ancient  Egyptian  pattern. 
The  fact  has  lately  been  disclosed  that  locks 
having  slides  and  tumblers  have  for  centuries 
been  made  in  China,  on  the  identical  princi- 
ples of  action  which  have  been  "RE-IN- 
VENTED" by  English  patentees  at 
various  periods  during  the  last  hun- 
dred years.  SOME  DENTISTS'  TOOLS 
discovered  at  Pompeii  have  recently  been 
patented  in  England  as  new  inven- 
tions. In  the  ecclesiastical  law  as  attribu- 
Cicero.  ted  to  Cicero,  it  is  promulgated  as  illegal  to 

bury  gold;  but  if  a  man  dies  whose  teeth 
have  been  filled  with  gold,  it  will  not  be  nec- 
essary to  extract  them.  Harvey  is  supposed 


23 

to  have  first  discovered  the  circulation  of  the 
blood,  but  it  can  be  easily  shown  that  the  an- 
cients understood  it,  both  from  the  writings 
of  Plato  and  Cicero.  Xenophon  makes  Eu- 
thydemus  speak  of  ships  "VOYAGING  Xenophon 
HITHER  AND  THITHER  IN  DIFFER- 
ENT QUARTERS  OF  THE  GLOBE." 
Did  they  know  it  to  be  a  globe?  Cicero 
speaks  of  "the  antipodes,"  and  calls  "this 
round  world  our  town."  Away  back  nearly 
six  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era, 
old  Thales  predicted  and  observed  an  eclipse 
of  the  sun.  THE  SMITHSONIAN  INSTI- 
TUTION has  received  a  gift  from  the  Chi- 
nese Minister  of  a  ring  three  thousand  five 
hundred  years  old.  In  the  BRITISH  MU- 
SEUM is  a  sickle-blade,  found  by  Belzoni 
under  the  base  of  a  sphinx  in  Karnac  near 
Thebes;  also  a  blade  found  by  Colonel  Vyse 
embedded  in  the  masonry  of  the  great  pyra- 
mids. A  portion  of  a  CROSSCUT  SAW 
was  exhumed  at  Nimrod  by  Mr.  Layard. 

But  little  is  known  with  certainty  with  re- 


24 

gafd  to  the  invention  of  glass.  Yet  speci- 
mens of  Egyptian  manufacture  are  traced 
back  to  FIFTEEN  HUNDRED  YEARS 
BEFORE  CHRIST.  Transparent  glass  is 
believed  to  have  been  first  used  about  seven 
hundred  and  fifty  years  before  the  Christian 
era.  In  the  year  1612  of  our  era,  a  book  was 
published  at  Florence  in  which  Nori,  the 
author,  says  a  way  of  making  malleable  glass 
was  invented  in  the  time  of  Tiberius,  a  thing 
afterward  lost,  and  to  this  day  wholly  un- 
known. But  though  unknown  to  the  old 
Italian,  the  art  was  practiced  in  Persia,  if  we 
Bailey.  may  believe  Bailey,  who  says  that  in  1610, 

Sophi,  Emperor  of  Persia,  sent  to  King 
Philipp  III  of  Spain,six  glasses  that  were  mal- 
leable and  WOULD  NOT  BREAK  BY  BE- 
ING HAMMERED,  and  Blacourt  tells  of  an 
inventor  having  presented  a  bust  of  malleable 
glass  to  Richelieu  in  1620,  but  who  was  re- 
warded by  perpetual  imprisonment,  lest  the 
vested  interests  of  the  French  glass  workers 
should  be  injured  by  the  new  invention. 


25 

We  have  history  for  the  story  of  King 
Porus  presenting  Alexander  the  Great  with 
a  wrought  bar  of  Damascus  steel.  The  razor 

steel  of  China  has  for  many  centuries  sur-  „ 

See 
passed  all  European  steel  in  temper  and  du-  Encyclopaedia 

rability  of  edge.  The  Hindoos  appear  to 
have  made  wrought  iron  directly  from  the 
ore,  without  passing  it  through  the  furnace, 
from  time  immemorial,  and  ELABORATE- 
LY WROUGHT  MASSES  OF  IRON 
ARE  STILL  FOUND  IN  INDIA,  which 
date  from  the  early  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era.  And  so  we  might  continue  until  a  vol- 
ume had  been  written,  for  the  "HALF 
HATH  NOT  BEEN  TOLD."  Yet  lack  of 
time  and  space  crowd  us  out  from  this  pro- 
foundly interesting  study.  Enough,  how- 
ever, has  doubtless  been  said  to  establish  the 
thought  that  WE  ARE  ONLY  JUST 
EMERGING  FROM  THE  DARK  NIGHT 
of  the  middle  ages  into  a  light  and  glory  of 
civilization  which,  with  all  its  magnificence, 
has  been  equalled,  if  not  surpassed,  by  that 


26 

which  has  a  few  times,  and  probably  many 
times,  preceded  it  in  the  history  of  mankind, 
CIVILIZATIONS  COME  AND  GO.  They 
flourish  for  a  little  age,  then  pass  away. 
Babylon — Egypt — Greece  —  Rome  —  where 
are  they?  The  new  becomes  the  old  and  the 
old  becomes  the  new,  and  there  is  nothing 
new  under  the  sun.  The  thing  that  hath  been 
it  is  that  which  shall  be,  and  that  which  is 
done  is  that  which  shall  be  done.  Is  there  any- 
Solomon.  thingwhereof  it  may  be  said"SEE,THIS  IS 
NEW"?  IT  HATH  ALREADY  BEEN 
OF  OLD  TIME  WHICH  WAS  BEFORE 
US.  I  deprecate  the  lamentable  looseness 
which  characterizes  the  application  which 
many  writers  make  of  this  term  "EVOLU- 
TION." For  example,  one  reads  of  the  evo- 
lution of  the  bicycle,  as  though  it  had  "RES- 
IDENT FORCES,"  accounting  for  its 
"CONTINUOUS  PROGRESSIVE 
CHANGE."  The  truth  is,  all  human  'men- 
tions— everything  necessarily  the  work  of  hu- 
man hands  and  brains,  such  as  the  bicycle, 


27 

or  writing,  or  the  different  forms  of  govern- 
ment, have  their  "PROGRESSIVE 
CHANGES"  wrought  in  each  respectively, 
as  a  result  of  human  effort,  and  not  from  or 
through  inherent  qualities.  In  truth,  they  do 
not,  in  and  of  themselves,  exist.  Therefore, 
it  should  always  be  remembered  AND 
NEVER  FORGOTTEN,  that,  correctly 
speaking,  they  cannot  be  said  to 
"EVOLVE." 


CHAPTER  II. 
ACTION  AND  REACTION. 

What,  then,  is  the  law?  There  is  nothing 
permanent  but  change.  The  tide  ebbs  and 
flows.  Up  and  down,  up  and  down;  never 
still,  the  unceasing  movement  of  this  natural 
phenomenon  is  not  to  be  arbitrarily  set  aside 
by  the  decree  of  King  Canute  or  the  broom 
of  Mrs.  Partington. 

This  law,  philosophy  inculcates  as  the  law 
of  action  and  reaction,  which  are  equal  and 
contrary.  And  so  is  it  with  human  society. 

As  applied  to  governments,    the    changes 

wrought  may,  broadly  speaking,  be  defined 

Xenophon          as  follows:    The  government  of  men  against 

their  will  and  over  states  not  in  obedience 


29 

to  law,  but  according  to  the  dictates  of  a  ruler 
is  a  "TYRANNY."  When  the  government 
is  over  men  with  their  own  consent,  and  over 
states  in  compliance  with  laws,  with  one  man 
as  the  head  or  central  authority,  it  may  be 
defined  as  a  "MONARCHY."  Gathered 
around  him  are  many  who  for  various  causes 
are  considered  noble  men,  or  men  worthy  of 
especial  dignity  and  honor,  and  they  are 
called  the  "ARISTOCRACY/'  The  gov- 
ernment of  the  aristocracy  is  the  government 
of  the  best,  and  nothing  can  be  better  than 
the  best.  But  when,  from  various  causes, 
corruption  is  engendered  and  men  obtain 
power  through  their  wealth  and  not  their 
worth,  the  government  may  be  called  a 
"PLUTOCRACY." 

"Ill  fares  the  land  to  hastening  ills  a  prey,  Goldsmith. 
Where  wealth  accumulates  and  men  decay." 

Where  it  consists  of  the  whole  body  of  the 
people,  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  Lincoln"1 
people,  for  the  people,  there  it  may  be  called 


30 

a  REPUBLIC  or  a  DEMOCRACY.  Of 
course,  there  are  many  corruptions  such  as 
"Timocracy"  or  "OLIGARCHY";  but  for 
general  purposes  these  definitions  will  suffice, 
for  government  is,  in  popular  belief,  either  a 
MONARCHY,  a  REPUBLIC  or  a  DEM- 
OCRACY. 

Cicero.  A  king  is  he  who,  like  a  father,  consults 

the  interests  of  his  people,  and  preserves  those 
whom  he  is  set  over  in  the  very  best  condi- 
tion of  life.  This  is  indeed  an  excellent  form 
of  government,  yet  still  liable,  and  as  it  were 
inclined,  to  a  pernicious  abuse.  "The  best  of 
men  are  men  at  the  best."  So  that  kingly 

Aristotle.  power  is  said  to  require  greater  virtue  than 
is  to  be  found  in  human  nature.  The  k'.ng, 

Shakespeare.  ("BREST  IN  A  LITTLE  BRIEF  AU- 
THORITY,") assumes  an  unjust  and  de- 
spotic power,  he  instantly  becomes  a  tyrant 
than  which  nothing  can  be  baser  and  fouler — 

Cicero.  than  which  no  imaginable  animal  can  be 

more  detestable  to  gods  and  men — for  though 
in  form  a  man  he  surpasses  the  most  savage 


monster  in  ferocious  cruelty.      He  who  en- 
trusts man  with  supreme  power  gives  it  unto 
a  wild  beast,  for  such  his  appetites  sometimes  Aristotle. 
make  him.      For  who  can  justly  call  him  a 
human  being  who  admits  not  between  him-  cicero- 
self  and  his  fellow-countrymen,  between  him- 
self and  the  whole  human  race,  any  communi- 
cation of  justice,  any  association  of  kindness? 
Alas!    there  are  here   in  our  own  country, 
which  is  supposed    to    have    been    liberated, 
many  who  affect  these  despotic  insolencies; 
for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  essential 
fact    of    "MONARCHY"    IS    NOT    THE  David  Starr 
PRESENCE  OF  THE  KING,  BUT  THE  Jordan' 
ABSENCE      OF     THE      PEOPLE     IN 
LARGE  TRANSACTIONS. 

In  itself,  however,  Monarchy  is  not  only 
not  a  reprehensible  form  of  government,  but 
I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  not  far  preferable  Cicero. 
to  all  other  simple  constitutions,  if  I  approved 
of  any  simple  constitution  whatever.  But 
this  preference  applies  so  long  only  as  it 
maintains  its  appropriate  character;  and  this 


32 

character  provides  that  one  individual's  per- 
petual power,  and  justice,  and  universal  wis- 
dom, should  regulate  the  safety,  equality  and 
tranquility  of  the  whole  people.  BUT  MANY 
PRIVILEGES  MUST  BE  WANTING  TO 
COMMUNITIES  THAT  LIVE  UNDER 
A  KING;  FOR  LIBERTY  DOES  NOT 
CONSIST  IN  SLAVERY  TO  A  JUST 
MASTER,  BUT  TO  NO  MASTER  AT 
ALL. 

Moreover,  as  I  say,  this  kind  of  govern- 
ment is  especially  subject  to  frequent  revolu- 
tions, because  the  fault  of  a  single  individual 
is  sufficient  to  precipitate  it  into  the  most  per- 
nicious disasters.  Thus  from  a  monarchy  is 
tyranny  developed.  By  this  perpetual  law  of 
change,  this  law  of  action  and  reaction,  a  vio- 
lent overthrow  results  from  the  abuse  of 
power;  and  the  excessive  power  of  the  king 
occasions  his  own  destruction.  Then  under 
the  same  law,  operating  now  in  another  direc- 
tion and  causing  extremes  to  beget  extremes, 
the  people  scream  for  "LIBERTY."  Then 


33 

comes  "LICENSE,"  which  is  excess  of  liberty, 

and  this  is  the  only  "LIBERTY/'  in  the  eyes 

of  the  vulgar.    Thus  the  excessive  liberalism 

of    Democracy   occasions    the  slavery  of  the 

people,  for  affairs  no  sooner  reach  the  point 

wherein  liberty  exceeds  itself  and  becomes 

license  than  out  of  it,  by  a  sort  of  root,  ty-  Aristotle. 

rants  naturally  arise  and  spring.    Illustration 

of  this  law  in  nature  is  given  when  the  very 

finest  day  suddenly  develops  a  storm.     The 

wind  begins  to  blow,  the  heavens  grow  dark, 

the  thunder  rolls,  the  foundations  of  the  earth 

are    shaken,    everything   portends   judgment 

doom,    with    the    wreck    of   matter    and   the 

crash  of  worlds.     But  it  passes  away.     The 

sun  again  shines.     Nature  clothes  herself  in 

living  green.     Spring — Summer — Autumn — 

Winter.     "ROUND   AND    ROUND    WE 

RUN." 

Moreover,  as  we  see  in  Nature,  the  most 
favorable  conditions  are  sometimes  suddenly 
converted  by  their  excess  into  the  contrary, 
so  with  the  institutions  of  society.  Man  is 


34 

Andrew  the    MICROCOSM    OF    THE    MACRO- 

JacksonDavis. 


How  especially  observable  is  this  fact  with 
regard  to  political  governments.  The  exces- 
sive liberalism  of  democracies  soon  brings 
the  people  individually  and  collectively  into 
an  excessive  servitude.  The  extreme  of 
tyranny  begets  the  extreme  of  liberty,  and 
Cicero.  the  extreme  of  liberty  begets  the  extreme  of 

tyranny  again;  for  from  the  midst  of  the  un- 
bridled and  capricious  populace  THEY 
ELECT  SOME  ONE  AS  A  LEADER; 
some  new  chief  forsooth,  audacious  and 
impure,  often  insolently  persecuting  those 
who  have  deserved  well  of  the  state,  and 
ready  to  gratify  the  populace  at  his 
neighbors'  expense,  as  well  as  his  own. 
Then,  since  the  private  condition  is 
naturally  exposed  to  fears  and  alarms,  the 
people  invest  him  with  many  powers,  or  lie 
inevitably  assumes  them,  and  these  are  con- 
tinued in  his  hands.  It  is  not  long  before  an 
excuse  is  found  for  surrounding  himself  with 


35 

body-guards,  and  an  increase  is  made  in  the 
standing  army.  Appropriations,  also,  are 
made  for  more  ships  of  war,  and  a  mighty 
navy  is  built.  "The  liberties  of  the  people 
must  be  preserved."  Long  editorials  are 
written.  Eloquent  sermons  preached  dis- 
claiming against  "BRUTE  FORCE/7  as 
though  the  bayonet  and  the  battleship  were 
only  to  be  used  like  a  plaything  of  a  fencing 
foil  or  a  v  pop-gun.  So  those  elected  by  the 
WILL  OF  THE  MAJORITY  conclude  by 
becoming  tyrants  over  the  very  people  who 
raised  them  to  dignity.  Then  the  very  best 
citizens  begin  to  advocate  a  return  to  the  good 
old  times;  and  many  would  urge  us  forward 
in  experiments  along  the  lines  of  their  most 
sanguine  idealism.  But  soon  some  bold  in- 
surgent faction  thrusts  itself  into  power, 
which,  like  a  ball  flung  from  hand  to  hand, 
passes  from  kings  to  tyrants,  from  tyrants  to 
the  aristocracy,  from  them  to  democracy,  and 
from  these  back  again  to  tyrants  and  to  "ic- 
tions,  and  thus  the  same  form  of  government 


36 

is  seldom  long  maintained.  And  wonderful 
indeed  are  the  revolutions  and  periodical  re- 
turns in  natural  constitutions  of  such  altera- 
tions and  vicissitudes,  which  it  is  the  part  of 
the  wise  politician  to  investigate  with  closest 
Cicero.  attention.  THE  GRAND  POINT  OF  PO- 

LITICAL SCIENCE  is  to  know  the  march 
and  deviations  of  governments,  that  when  we 
are  acquainted  with  the  particular  courses 
and  inclinations  of  constitutions  we  may  be 
able  to  restrain  them  from  their  fatal  tenden- 
cies, or  to  oppose  adequate  obstacles  to  their 
decline  and  fall.  But  to  calculate  their  ap- 
proach and  to  join  to  this  foresight  the  skill 
which  moderates  the  course  of  events,  and  re- 
tains in  a  steady  hand  the  reins  of  that  author- 
ity which  safely  conducts  the  people  through 
all  the  dangers  to  which  they  expose  them- 
selves is  the  work  of  a  most  illustrious  citi- 
zen and  of  ALMOST  DIVINE  GENIUS. 

Since  these  are  the  facts  of  experience,  and 
"HISTORY  REPEATS  ITSELF/'  and 
since  mankind  will  not  be  content  to  live  in 


37 

SOCIETY  WHICH  IS  BORN  OP  OUR 
NEED,  but  will  have  GOVERNMENT  Paine. 
WHICH  IS  BORN  OF  OUR  WICKED- 
NESS, royalty  is,  in  my  opinion,  very  far 
preferable  to  any  other  kind  of  political  con- 
stitution; but  it  is  itself  INFERIOR  to  that  Cicero. 
which  is  composed  of  an  equal  mixture  of  the 
three  best  forms  of  government,  united  and 
modified  by  one  another.  I  wish  to  establish 
in  a  commonwealth  a  royal  and  pre-eminent 
chief.  Another  portion  of  power  should  be 
deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy,  and 
certain  things  should  be  reserved  to  the  judg- 
ment and  wish  of  the  multitude. 

As  respects  the  state,  the  government  of 
single  individuals,  provided  they  are  just,  is 
superior  to  any  other.  One  pilot  is  better 
fitted  to  steer  a  ship  than  a  multitude  of  sail- 
ors. One  physician  is  better  fitted  to  handle 
the  critical  case  than  ten  thousand  inex- 
perienced persons.  So  of  "THE  SHIP  OF 
STATE."  So  of  "THE  BODY  POLITIC." 
We  are  all  wonderful  sailors  and  think  we 


33 

know  it  all  when  the  weather  is  fine.  When 
we  are  feeling  very  good,  we  all  have  reme- 
dies, not  only  for  toothache  and  headache, 
but  for  every  ill  that  flesh  is  heir  to.  But  let 
the  storm  arise!!  "Let  the  fever  rage!!"  Ig- 
norance exhibits  at  the  critical  moment  the 
egotism  of  its  empty  opinion.  Look  where 
you  will  in  human  relations,  you  will  see  the 
prevalence  of  this  natural  and  necessary  prin- 
ciple, which  means  the  control  of  the  many  by 
the  few;  nor  is  it  possible  to  avoid  it  in  the 
affairs  of  government,  Democratic  theories 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Theory 
and  practice  vary.  The  theories  of  men  as 
to  social  order  result  in  the  production  of 
governments  of  various  forms;  but  the  prac- 
tice of  men  presents  to  us  the  natural  phenom- 
enon of  the  identity  of  the  working  of  gov- 
ernments in  all  its  forms.  Wherever  a  king 
or  oligarchy  refrains  from  the  last  extremity 
of  rapacity  and  tyranny  through  fear  of  the 
lesistance  of  the  people,  there  the  constitu- 
tion, or  whatever  it  may  be  called,is,  in  some 


39 

measure,  "DEMOCRATIC."  The  admix- 
ture of  democratic  power  may  be  slight;  but 
some  admixture  there  is.  Wherever  a  numer- 
ical minority,  by  superior  wealth,  of  intelli- 
gence of  political  concert,  or  of  military  disci- 
pline, exercises  a  greater  influence  on  society 
than  any  other  equal  number  of  persons, 
there,  whatever  the  form  of  government  may 
be  called,  a  mixture  of  "ARISTOCRACY" 
does  in  fact  exist.  And  wherever  a  single  in- 
dividual, from  whatever  cause,  is  so  neces- 
sary to  the  community,  or  to  any  part  of  it, 
that  he  possesses  more  power  than  any  otfier 
man,  there  is  a  mixture  of  "MONARCHY." 

This  is  the  philosophical  classification  of 
governments,  and,  if  we  use  this  classification 
we  shall  find,  not  only  that  there  are  mixed 
governments,  but  that  all  governments  are, 
and  must  necessarily  be,  "MIXED."  It  is 
true,  therefore,  if  we  can  bear  the  thought, 
that  every  form  of  government  is  based  on  a 
right -principle.  But  where  other  and  equally 
right  principles  have  been  neglected  or  over- 


40 

looked,  misery  ensues.  In  America,  the  prin- 
ciple of  Monarchy  'and  Aristocracy  has  been 
repudiated;  but  the  practice  remains,  yea, 
verily,  it  is  intensified  in  the  trusts  and  in- 
dustrial monopolies  by  which  the  many  are 
completely  governed  by  the  few.  This  effect 
must  have  been  produced  by  an  efficient 
cause.  It  has  been  produced  by  ignoring  the 
essential  principle  of  aristocracy,  in  favor  of  an 
impossible  theory  of  democracy.  Political 
life  in  America  is  like  a  troubled  sea,  whose 
waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt.  The  Constitu- 
tion is  away  ahead  of  anything  which  the  few 
have  been  willing,  or  the  many  able,  to  prac- 
tice. Otherwise,  I  know  not  how  to  account 
for  "THE  INCREASING  POWER  OF 
THE  SENATE."  That  the  few  rule  is  the 
evil;  but  the  abnormal  development  of  that 
evil  is  the  necessary  consequence  and  result 
of  the  reaction  caused  by  the  exaggeration 
of  one  truth  at  the  expense  of  another.  It 
has  been  said  "THE  CURE  FOR  THE 
EVILS  OF  DEMOCRACY  IS  MORE 


DEMOCRACY."  It  might  with  equal  truth 
be  said,  "THE  CURE  FOR  THE  EVILS 
of  ARISTOCRACY  IS  MORE  ARISTOC- 
RACY." If  we  are  plunging  into  "mili- 
tarism" and  "imperialism,"  it  must  be  due  to 
the  operation  of  that  natural  law  of  action 
and  re-action  which  are  equal  and  contrary. 
This  is  not  a  popular  thought,  and  will  appear 
very  shocking  and  "UN-AMERICAN"  to 
some.  But  "things  are  not  what  they  seem." 
"Errors  like  straws  upon  the  surface  flow; 
He  who  would  look  for  pearls  must  dive  below." 
It  must  be  understood  that  the  few  neces- 
sarily exercise  greater  executive  functions 
in  the  administration  of  affairs  in  any  organ- 
ization of  any  kind  than  the  many.  This  pre- 
cludes the  possibility  of  the  practical  working 
of  any  democratic  theory.  Moreover,  it  in- 
cludes the  certain  and  ultimate  triumph  of  the 
essential  aristocratic  principle.  What  is 
needed  is  the  wisdom  to  discover  the  proper 
blending  of  influences.  It  is  in  this  way  bal- 
ance is  best  maintained ;  for  the  evils  we  suf- 
fer most  are  extremes  of  good.  Balance  is 
equilibrium— equity— JUSTICE. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Now  to  produce  harmony  one  must  have 
some  understanding  of  the  laws  of  harmony. 
Without  wishing  to  appear  facetious,  I 
might  say  a  natural  "POLITICAL  CON- 
CERT" would  produce  "HARMONY"  in 
society.  But  "harmony"  is  the  result  of  a 
proper  blending  of  influences.  It  is  not  even 
absolutely  correct  to  speak  of  everything  as 
"natural"  because  harmony  necessitates,  fre- 
quently, the  use  of  the  "FLAT"  and  the 
"SHARP,"  and  without  the  flat  or  the  sharp 
as  the  case  may  require,  nothing  would  be 
NATURAL.  The  notes  high  and  low,  long 
and  short,  flat,  sharp  and  natural,  must  all  be 
sounded  in  their  proper  place,  respectively, 
and  for  their  consistent  duration,  otherwise 
discord  is  produced  and  not  harmony.  How 
is  it  to  be  otherwise  in  a  harmonious  condi- 
Shakespeare.  tion  of  society?  "HOW  SOUR  SWEET 
MUSIC  IS  WHEN  TIME  IS  BROKE 


43 

AND  NO  PROPORTION  KEPT!  SO  IS 
IT  IN  THE  MUSIC  OF  MEN'S  LIVES." 
But  not  to  make  the  analogy  too  fanciful,  and 
not  to  lose  sight  of  the  one  central  idea  which 
it  is  intended  to  illustrate,  let  us  reflect  how 
that  a  whole  band  of  players  become  effective 
in  the  production  of  harmony  only  as  they 
cooperate  under  the  imperial  rule  of  an  effi- 
cient leader.  It  does  not  at  all  destroy  the 
force  of  the  argument  to  say  that  as  individ- 
uals their  surrender  to  such  government  is 
voluntary.  We  mistake  in  dealing  with  in- 
dividuals and  not  with  principles.  The  prin- 
ciple is  that  the  many  cooperate  harmonious- 
ly only  as  they  surrender  themselves  to  lead- 
ership. To  attempt  to  define  a  method  of 
producing  harmony  in  society  without  due 
recognition  of  this  essential  principle  is  to 
depart  from  natural  science  and  make  one's 
self  ridiculous. 

Moreover,   do   players   on  musical  instru-  Cicero. 
ments  moderate  their  notes,  or  otherwise,  by 
the  "WILL  OF  THE  PEOPLE,"  or  their 
own?    And  shall  the  wise  man,  skilled  in  an 


44 

art  of  much  higher  order,  seek,  not  what  is 
most  nearly  conformed  to  the  truth  and  not 
what  the  people  crave?  Is  anything  more 
foolish  than  to  take  great  account  in  the  mass 
of  those  whom  individually  you  despise  as 
Bierce.  persons  of  no  culture?  CAN  WISDOM  BE 

GOT  BY  A  COMBINATION  OF  MANY 
IGNORANCES?  There  must  be  the  Dem- 
ocracy; but  for  harmonious  cooperation  they 
are  effective  only  when  under  the  kingly  rule 
of  the  presiding  genius.  I  am  not  saying  that 
in  the  affairs  of  government  we  should  go  back 
to  Monarchy;  but  I  do  insist  upon  it  that 
where  the  actions  of  many  men  are  consid- 
ered we  have  never  yet  found  a  way  to  make 
them  effective  apart  from  this  principle.  What 
folly  of  superstition  makes  us  cling  tenacious- 
ly to  an  impracticable  theory  of  "democracy" 
in  the  administrative  affairs  of  government! 
Can  we  not  see  that  extremes  beget  ex- 
tremes? Theoretically  we  have  no  king  and 
no  aristocracy;  practically  we  have  more  kings 
and  aristocrats  than  all  the  European  mon- 


45 

archies  put  together.  COAL  KINGS— OIL 
KINGS— RAILROAD  KINGS— KINGS 
OF  FINANCE  AND  THE  REST.  It  only 
evokes  a  smile  when  we  speak  of  "voting 
kings,"  for  the  industrial  development  of  our 
time  has  not  been  at  all  upon  the  lines  of 
"DEMOCRACY";  but  upon  the  PRINCI- 
PLE OF  ARISTOCRACY.  Hence  these 
great  leaders  are  rightly  called  "KINGS"  in 
their  various  enterprises.  In  common  and  Mallock. 
simple  and  average  things,  the  common  and 
simple  and  average  man  is  competent;  but 
the  moment  any  matter  becomes  complex, 
that  moment  is  it  removed  from  the  grasp  of 
the  brain  of  the  average  man.  Then  the  cul- 
tivated and  specific  faculties  of  the  excep- 
tional man  are  required.  The  masses  of  man- 
kind, which  are  simply  the  ordinary  man  mul- 
tiplied, cannot  provide  themselves  with  the 
conditions  of  their  own  progressive  develop- 
ment. Then  comes  the  utility  and  necessity 
of  greatness,  which  is  simply  the  possession 
and  exercise  of  some  faculty,  or  assortment 
of  faculties,  the  rudiments  of  which  are  pos- 


46 

sessed  by  all.  Everything  which  character- 
izes our  progressive  civilization  originated 
with,  and  is  maintained  by,  men  who  were 
and  are  superior  to  the  majority.  All  inven- 
tions come  from  the  talents  and  activities  of 
an  exceptionally  gifted  minority. 

Byron.  "'TIS  THUS  THE  SPIRIT  OF  A  SIN- 

GLE MIND  MAKES  THAT  OF  MUL- 
TITUDES TAKE  ONE  DIRECTION." 

Aristotle  How  can  any  one  fail  to  see  that  the  masses 

of  mankind  are  incessantly  in  all  the  domestic 
relations  essentially  under  the  government  of 
a  king?  It  is  advantageous  for  those  who 
are  insignificant  in  capacity  to  be  nourished 
by  the  care  of  excellent  and  eminent  men. 
That  they  are  not  so  "NOURISHED"  in  our 
present  society  is  due  very  largely  to  this 
pernicious  theory  of  'Democracy,  which  ig- 
nores the  worth  of  superior  ones  and  exag- 
gerates the  CONCEIT  OF'THE  VULGAR. 

Mallock.  There  can  be  no  surer  way  of  creating  and 

perpetuatinginequalities  than  the  advocacy  of 
pestilent  ideas  which  encourage  equality  of 


47 

expectations  amongst  those  whose  natural 
capacity  has  all  shades  of  variety  and  dissimi- 
larity. Are  the  CONGENITAL,  INE- 
QUALITIES of  men  a  factor  in  the  pro- 
duction of  social  inequalities  or  are  they  not? 
To  ask  such  a  question  is  to  answer  it.  That 
there  are  other  factors  producing  social  in- 
equalities is  not  the  point.  I  am  insisting  Macaulay's 
that  for  society  to  have  its  great  men  and  its 
little  men  is  as  natural  as  it  is  for  the  earth 

to  have  its  mountains  and  its  valleys.     Some 

Shakespeare. 

are  born  great,  some  achieve  greatness,  and 
some  have  greatness  thrust  upon  them. 
"THERE  ARE  HARES  AS  WELL  AS 
LIONS/'  "Shall  we  cut  off  the  highest  ears 
of  corn  and  so  reduce  the  whole  crop  to  an 
equality?"  The  Procrustaen  tyrant  cut  off 
the  heads  of  those  who  were  too  long  and 
stretched  those  who  were  too  short,  till  he 
made  all  to  fit  his  FAMOUS  IRON  BED!!! 
But  they  tell  us  that  it  is  merely  an  "equal- 
ity of  right s" — an  "equality  of  opportunity." 
Alas!  As  to  that  equality  of  rights  which  De-  Ciccro' 


48 

mocracies  boast  of  so  loudly,  it  can  never  be 
maintained,  for  the  people  themselves,  many 
of  them,  so  dissolute  and  so  unbridled  are  al- 
ways inclined  to  flatter  a  number  of  dema- 
gogues, and  there  is  in  them  a  very  great 
partiality  for  certain  men  and  dignities,  so 
that  their  equality  so  called  becomes  most 
unfair  and  iniquitous.  For  as  EQUAL 
HONOR  IS  GIVEN  TO  THE  MOST  NO- 
BLE AND  THE  MOST  INFAMOUS, 
some  of  whom  must  exist  in  every  State,  then 
the  equity  which  they  eulogize  becomes  most 
inequitable — an  evil  which  can  never  happen 
to  those  States  governed  by  Aristocracies. 
Mallock.  Now,  the  INCENTIVE  TO  EXERTION 

which  is  widest,  most  constant  and  power- 
ful in  its  operation  in  all  civilized  countries  IS 
THE  DESIRE  FOR  DISTINCTION,  and 
this  may  be  composed  of  love  of  fame,  or  love 
of  wealth,  or  both.  But  when  the  natural 
principle  of  Aristocracy  is  repudiated  as  in  a 
Democracy,the  energy  of  superior  ones  is  di- 
rected almost  exclusively  to  the  accumulation 
of  wealth.  An  understanding  of  the  working 


49 

of  this  law  will  help  largely  to  explain  the  ac- 
cumulation of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  few. 
They  that  run  in  a  race  run  all;  but  one  re- 
ceiveth  the  prize.  All  are  running  in  this  race 
for  riches,  but  only  the  few  succeed.  To  get 
money  or  "pull"  with  those  who  have  it,  be- 
comes the  consuming  thought  with  ambitious 
minds.  More  crime  is  committed  from  AM-  Aristotle. 
MITION  than  from  necessity.  Thus  De- 
mocracy forces  an  ambitious  man  to  consider 
exclusively  not  what  is  right,  honorable,  or 
just;  but  what  will  the  quickest  make  him 
rich.  The  more  a  man  refers  all  his  actions  Cicero. 
to  his  own  advantage  the  further  he  recedes 
from  probity;  consequently  no  man  can  pos- 
sibly achieve  anything  of  good,  for  himself 
or  for  anybody,  everlastingly  consumed  with 
motives  so  essentially  sordid.  Yet  it  is  not 
money  in  and  of  itself  which  is  the  end 
sought;  but  rather  the  satisfaction  of  ambi- 
tion. And  money  is  the  means  to  the  end, 
and  thus  not  money;  but  the  LOVE  OF  Bible- 
MONEY  becomes  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil 
which,  while  some  have  coveted  after  they 


Cicero. 


Aristotle. 


have  erred  as  to  the  meaning  of  honor,  patriot- 
ism, citizenship,  and  even  riches,  and  have 
pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sor- 
rows. Remove  the  cause  and  the  effect  will 
disappear.  Let  Society  find  other  and  more 
natural  avenues  for  the  expression  of  ambi- 
tion. A  harmonious  Society  must  be  one  giv- 
ing the  readiest  expression  to  the  natural  su- 
periority of  the  possessors  of  genius.  I  ad- 
mit there  is  some  PLAUSABILITY  ASSO- 
CIATED WITH  THE  ARGUMENT  FOR 
AN  EQUALITY  OF  GOODS,  and  yet,  to 
speak  truth  it  is  no  very  great  one;  for  men 
of  great  abilities  will  be  likely  to  feel  hurt  at 
not  being  reckoned  at  their  proper  worth, 
and  hence  they  will  often  appear  ready  for 
commotion  and  sedition.  Men  "WANT" 
other  things  besides  food.  The  hunger  of 
ambition  is  inordinate.  The  wickedness  of 
mankind  is  insatiable.  In  Democracy  a  vul- 
gar man  becomes  seditious  when  there  is  an 
equality  of  goods,  and  one  of  more  elevated 
sentiments  if  there  is  an  equality  of  honors. 
Those  who  argue  most  for  man  as  a  product 


of  "ENVIRONMENT,"  and  from  that  to 
the  necessity  of  changing  the  system  of 
things,  will  do  well  thoroughly  to  analyze  this 
thought,  and  the  results  of  a  neglect,  in  De- 
mocracies, of  this  principle  in  human  nature. 
No  poetical  soul  filled  with  the  most  sanguine 
expectations  of  idealism  and  altruism  has 
ever  been  able  completely  to  picture  to  my 
imagination  the  splendid  possibilities  of  a 
perfected  social  regime;  but  when  I  consider 
the  fact  that  the  masses  of  mankind  are  ef- 
fective to-day  in  doing  the  work  of  the  wo  fid 
only  as  they  are  governed  by  an  efficient 
minority,  I  see  therein  the  trimuph  of  the 
principle  of  Aristocracy  and  the  UTTER  IM- 
PRACTICABILITY of  all  theories  of  in- 
dustrial and  economic  equality  and  SOCIAL 
DEMOCRACY.  It  does  not  help  at  all  to 
say  the  few  could  do  nothing  without  the 
many.  The  fact  is  the  many  are  controlled 
by  the  few,  and  are  likely  so  to  be  controlled 
for  a  very  long  time  to  come.  What  I  wish  to 
do  is  to  establish  a  real  Co-operative  Common- 
wealth. Now  a  "COMMONWEALTH"  IS  r 

Cicero. 

A    COMMUNITY   AND   ASSOCIATION 


52 

OF  RIGHTS.  It  comprehends  all  shades  of 
variety  and  dissimilarity.  Not  that  variety 
and  dissimilarity  so  conspicuous  in  the  theo- 

Humboldt.  retic  equality  of  Democracy;  but  it  compre- 
hends the  absolute  and  essential  importance 
of  human  development  in  its  richest  diversity. 
Attempts  to  organize  Society  upon  a  basis  of 
equality  and  democracy  have  not  been  want- 
ing in  the  history  of  the  past.  If  it  had  been 
within  the  bounds  of  a  reasonable  possibility 
for  the  democratic  idea  to  preserve  the  peo- 
ple in  such  a  way,  why  are  all  things  to-day  so 
completely  in  the  hands  of  the  few?  The 
theory  of  Democracy  has  been  utterly  at 
variance  with  the  fact.  The  fact  is  there  is 
not  now,  there  never  has  been,  nor  can  there 
ever  be  such  a  thing  as  a  "Democratic"  gov- 
ernment, because  the  few  through  adminis- 
trative affairs  and  executive  functions  neces- 
sarily exercise  greater  power  than  the  many. 

Cicero.  IF  THE  PEOPLE  KNEW  HOW  TO 

MAINTAIN  ITS  RIGHTS  NOTHING 
COULD  BE  MORE  GLORIOUS  THAN 
DEMOCRACY. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Must  we  then  have  titles?  Titles,  what  are  Paine. 
they?  What  is  their  worth?  Through  all 
the  vocabulary  of  Adam  there  is  not  such  an 
animal  as  a  "DUKE"  or  a  "COUNT,"  neith- 
er can  we  connect  any  certain  idea  to  the 
words.  Whether  they  mean  strength  or  weak- 
ness, wisdom  or  folly,  a  child  or  a  man,  or  a 
rider,  or  a  horse  is  all  equivocal.  What  re- 
spect then  can  be  paid  to  that  which  describes 
nothing?  Imagination  has  given  figure  and 
character  to  Centaurs,  Satyrs,  and  down  to 
all  the  fairy  tribe;  but  titles  baffle  even  the 
powers  of  fancy  and  are  a  chimerical  nonde- 
script. There  was  a  time  when  the  lowest 
class  of  what  are  called  "NOBILITY"  was 
more  thought  of  than  the  highest  is  now,  and 
when  a  man  in  armour  riding  through  Christ- 
endom in  search  of  adventures  was  more 
stared  at  than  a  modern  "DUKE."  The 
world  has  seen  this  folly  fall,  and  it  has  fallen 


54 

by  being  laughed  at,  and  the  farce  of  titles 
will  follow  its  fate.  NOT  FOR  THIS  KIND 
OF  AN  "ARISTOCRACY"  DO  I  PLEAD. 
But  just  as  those  who  contrive  the  plan  which 
others  follow  are  more  particularly  said  to 
act,  and  are  superior  to  the  workmen  who 
execute  their  designs,  so  there  must,  there- 
fore, necessarily  be  as  many  different  forms 
of  government  as  there  are  different 
Mallock.  "RANKS''  in  the  Society  arising  from  the 

superiority  of  some  over  others,  and  their  dif- 
ferent situations.  Moreover,  the  maintain- 
ence  and  progress  of  civilization  depend  on 
the  actions  of  average  men  being  subjected  to 
the  control  of  exceptional  men.  Take  men  on 
the  average  and  tell  me  whether  the  will  of 
the  many,  however  effectively  it  may  be  ex- 
ercised, is  really  a  power  that  makes  for 
progress,  and  whether  it  is  not  more  likely 
to  bring  harm  than  benefit  to  those  very  col- 
lections of  ordinary  men  who  exercise  it? 
The  great  mass  of  human  beings  are  helpless 
without  the  assistance  of  a  minority  more  ef- 
ficient than  themselves.  We  must  recognize 


55 

this  essential  principle  of  leadership,  not 
by  establishing  an  hereditary  aristocracy 
which  sooner  or  later  becomes  a  nobility  of 
"NO-ABILITY."  The  more  such  a  so-call- 
ed aristocracy  is  seen  the  more  it  is  despised. 
It  loses  ground  more  from  contempt  than 
from  hatred,  and  is  jeered  at  as  an  ass  rather 
than  dreaded  as  a  lion.  Rank  and  dignity  in 
Society  must  take  a  new  ground.  The  old 
one  has  fallen  through.  It  must  now  take  the  Paine. 
substantial  ground  of  CHARACTER,  in- 
stead of  the  chimerical  ground  of  titles  and 
wealth.  But  it  cannot  be  said  that  we  have 
banished  titles  so  long  as  the  "LAND- 
LORD" remains.  Twenty-two  millions  of 
acres  of  land  in  America  are  owned  by  men  - 
who  owe  allegience  to  other  governments. 
There  are  about  three  millions  of  acres  of  land 
in  Massachusetts,  so  that  the  men  living  in 
other  countries,  and  owing  allegiance  to 
other  powers,  own  land  enough  to  make 
SEVEN  OR  EIGHT  STATES  as  large  as 
Massachusetts.  This  is  very  much  more 
than  some  governments  own  to  support  a 


56 

King.  There  is  TWICE  AS  MUCH  land 
owned  by  aliens  in  the  United  States 
as  there  is  owned  by  Englishmen  in 
Ireland.  Yet  we  boast  that  we  have 
no  noblemen  in  our  Democracy.  What!! 
NO  NOBLEMEN  in  our  Democracy!!!  It 
was  said  of  old  Rome  "THE  WEALTH  OF 
ROME  IN  MEN  AND  MANNERS  LIES/1 
Alas!  there  is  a  dearth  of  men.  If  not,  why 
is  the  order  of  a  decent  human  Society  so  ut- 
terly subverted  by  the  corruption  of  our  po- 
litical mechanism  ?  „  fc 

"          *          *          *          A  time  like  this  demands 
Great  hearts,  strong  minds,  true  faith,  and   willing 

hands; 

Men  whom  the  lust  of  office  cannot  buy; 
Men  who  possess  opinions  and  a  will; 
Men  who  have  honor;  men  who  will  not  lie." 

G*bb'nal  ^e  nee(^  men  wno  are  guided  by  con- 

science rather  than  expediency ;  men  who 
are  controlled  by  principle  more  than  by 
popularity;  men  who  walk  in  the  path 
of  duty  and  not  self-interest.  Would  you  but 
look  into  the  history  of  former  ages,  you 

Cicero.  might  plainly  see  that  such  as  the  CHIEF 

MEN  of  a  country  have  been,  such  has  been 


57 

also  the  state  in  general,  and  that  whatever 
change  of  manners  took  place  in  the  former 
the  same  always  followed  in  the  latter.  On 
this  account  great  men  of  a  vicious  life  are 
doubly  pernicious,  as  being  not  only  guilty  of 
immoral  practices  themselves,  but  likewise  of 
spreading  them  far  and  wide  among  their  fel- 
low men.  Not  only  are  they  mischievous  be- 
cause they  cherish  vices  themselves,  but  also 
because  they  corrupt  others,  and  they  do 
MORE  HARM  BY  THEIR  EXAMPLE 
than  by  the  crimes  which  they  commit. 

The  excessive  weight  of  Napoleon  ("THE  Victor  Hugo. 
MAN  OF  DESTINY")  disturbed  the  equi- 
librium.   Some  of  the  greatest  calamities  that 
have  ever  befallen  nations  have  been  caused 
by  men  of  great  minds; but  vicious  characters. 
CHARACTER  is  power  in  a  much  higher  Allison's 
sense  than  that  "KNOWLEDGE  IS  POW-  History- 
ER/'but  the  power  of  a  man  of  vicious  charac- 
ter is  altogether  mischievous,    like   the   dex- 
terity of  a  pickpocket,  or  the  horsemanship  of 
a  highwayman.     On  the  other  hand  the  ex- 


Shakespeare. 


Benjamin 
Franklin. 


Longfellow. 


ample  of  a  good  man  is  better  even  than  his 
precepts;  for  action  is  eloquence  and  the  eyes 
of  the  ignorant  are  more  learned  than  their 
ears.  The  success  of  Benjamin  Franklin  as 
a  public  man  cannot  be  attributed  to  his  tal- 
ents or  his  powers  of  speaking — for  these 
were  moderate — but  to  his  known  integrity 
of  CHARACTER  which  created  confidence 
in  high  stations  as  well  as  in  humbler  life.  His 
was  "THAT  INBRED  LOYALTY  UNTO 
VIRTUE  WHICH  CAN  SERVE  HER 
WITHOUT  A  LIVERY." 

Astronomers  tell  us  that  there  are  stars 
so  far  removed  from  our  earth  away  out  in 
the  boundless  depths  of  the  illimitable  uni- 
verse, that  light,  traveling  with  almost  incon- 
ceivable velocity,  would  be  millions  of  years 
reaching  us  from  them. 

Were  a  star  quenched  on  high, 

For  ages  would  its  light 

Still  traveling  downward  from  the  sky 

Shine  on  our  mortal  sight. 

So  when  a  great  man  dies, 

For  years  beyond  our  ken 

The  light  he  leaves  behind  him  lies 

Upon  the  paths  of  men. 


59 

And  thus  a  few.  AYE  EVEN  A  VERY  Cicero. 
FEW  MEN,  MAY  CORRUPT  OR  COR- 
RECT the  manners  of  the  masses  of  mankind. 
With  us,  however,  the  principal  qualification 
ior  politics  (than  which  there  is  no  more  pro- 
found science)  is  not  very  often  a  good 
character,  but  more  often  it  is  made  to  con- 
sist of  wealth  or  notoriety. 

Behold  the  average  political  candidate  in-  Beaconsfield 
toxicated  with  the  exuberance  of  his  own  ver-  Gladstone. 
bosity,  hypnotizing  the  unsophisticated  vot- 
ers, as  he  PROMISES  WHEN  ELECTED 
to  office  all  kinds  of  impossible  things  which 
never  did  nor  never  can  amount  to  any  more 
than  the  most  veritable    swelling    words    of 
vanity!!    People  ought  to  endeavor  to  follow  Aristotle. 
what  is  right  and  not  what  is  established.  The 
best  arrangement  must  be  that  of  which  the 
materials  to  be  arranged  are  the  best  fitted 
to  receive  and  to  preserve.    A  TRUE  POLI- 
TICIAN IS  ACQUAINTED  NOT  ONLY 
WITH  THAT  WHICH  IS  MOST  PER- 
FECT IN  THE  ABSTRACT  but  also  that 


6o 

which  is  the  best  suited  under  any  given  cir- 
cumstances. Now,  common  sense  would 
have  every  man  in  the  place  for  which  he  is 
best  qualified  by  natural  capacity.  If  this  be 
true  in  the  humbler  affairs  of  life,  why  should 
it  not  also  be  true  in  the  more  weighty  af- 
fairs of  civil  society?  Shall  a  man  be  this 
year  a  carpenter,  and  the  next  elected  by  the 
"VOTE  OF  THE  PEOPLE"  to  fill  the  of- 
fice of  blacksmith?  How  could  a  man  thus 
elected  have  it  in  his  power  to  act  virtuously 
and  live  happily?  We  desire  not  merely  to 
live,  but  to  live  well,  "and  seeing  that  we  have 
failed  to  do  it  hitherto,  how  absurd  to  con- 
tinue in  the  practice  of  present  rules.  Be- 
hold a  YOUNG  AMBITIOUS  MAN  PRE- 
SENTS HIMSELF  before  the  voters,  seek- 
ing to  obtain,  say  a  government  medical  ap- 
pointment. He  commences  his  harangue  by 
confessing  that  he  has  never  learned  the 
medical  art  from  any  one.  He  has  never  had 
anything  to  do  with  medical  men,  nor  has  he 
ever  studied  the  science  of  medicine;  never- 


6i 

theless  (says  he)  "confer  upon  me  this  ap- 
pointment. I  will  educate  myself  by  EX- 
PERIMENTALIZING upon  you.  Elect  me 
to  office  by  the  will  of  the  majority,  for  the 
people  so  to  govern  themselves  must  be  cer- 
tainly right,  and  if  anyone  of  you  is  taken 
with  a  fever,  although  I  do  not  know  how  to 
cure  a  fever,  yet  I  do  know  how  to  cure  fits, 
so  I  would  immediately  proceed  to  throw  the 
sick  man  into  a  fit  and  cure  that/'  What  a 
laugh  is  raised  at  this  specimen  of  an  exor- 
dium ?  Can  the  matter  be  one  whit  less  con- 
temptible when  every  political  office  is  filled 
at  election  time  by  this  periodical  process  of 
insanity?  IT  IS  THE  BUSINESS  OF  xenophon. 
EACH  MAN  TO  BECOME  ACQUAINT- 
ED WITH  HIMSELF.  By  knowing  them- 
selves men  secure  a  vast  number  of  blessings, 
whereas  by  self-deception  they  incur  an 
enormous  amount  of  misery.  Those  who 
know  themselves  know  what  is  adapted  to 
them,  and  distinguish  between  what  they  can 
do  and  what  they  cannot  effect,  and  by  act- 
ing in  accordance  with  their  powers  they 


62 

both  provide  such  things  as  are  needful  for 
them  and  fare  prosperously;  and,  abstaining 
from  undertakings  that  they  do  not  under- 
stand, they  live  unblamed  and  escape  adver- 
sity. Hence,  also,  they  are  enabled  to  form 
an  ESTIMATE  OF  OTHERS,  and  from 
their  intercourse  with  their  fellow  men  they 
both  provide  for  themselves  what  is  beneficial 
and  secure  themselves  against  misfortunes. 
Whereas  those  who  do  not  know  themselves, 
but  are  deceived  as  to  their  own  capabilities, 
are  in  the  same  condition  both  with  regard  to 
other  men  and  other  human  affairs,  for  they 
neither  comprehend  what  they  want  nor  what 
they  do,  nor  the  characters  of  those  with 
whom  they  mix;  but  running  into  error  upon 
all  these  particulars,  they  both  fail  in  obtain- 
ing what  is  good  and  fall  into  calamities. 
But  they  on  the  other  hand,  who  comprehend 
what  they  are  doing,  succeed  in  their  under- 
takings and  become  ESTEEMED  AND 
HONORED.  Those  who  resemble  them  as- 
sociate gladly  with  them,  and  those  who  go 
wrong  in  their  affairs  seek  their  advice,  re- 


63 

specting  them  and  covet  their  protection  and 
place  their  hopes  of  good  in  them.  Those  on 
the  other  hand  who  have  not  a  clear  con- 
ception of  what  they  are  doing,  but  who  make 
an  unhappy  choice  and  miscarry  in  their  vari- 
ous enterprises,  not  only  suffer  pains  and 
penalties  personally,  but  become,  on  this  very 
account,  objects  of  contempt  and  ridicule  and 
lead  despised  and  dishonored  lives.  MANY 
INDEED  ARE  VERY  DEFICENT  IN 
THIS  SELF-KNOWLEDGE,  although 
they  think  they  have  attained  to  the  very 
highest  pitch  of  instruction  and  pride  them- 
selves upon  their  acquirements.  My  thought 
is  more  particularly  applicable  to  the  PO- 
LITICAL MISFIT  because  the  evil  is,  if 
possible,  more  magnified  in  that  direction 
than  in  any  other.  Let  us  seek  that  RIGHT 
REASON  which  Nature  inculcates  and 
which  the  experience  of  the  best  and  wisest 
philosophers  has  found  to  be  truly  right. 
"MAN  KNOW  THYSELF."  If  I  have  not 
governed  myself  how  can  I  know  anything  of 
"GOVERNMENT"  at  all? 


PART    II. 

CHAPTER  V. 

"  CHESS  NUTS." 

The  thoughts  offered  herewith  are  intend- 
ed as  suggestive  and  never  authoritative. 
There  are  many  eyes  which  cannot  bear  the 
light  of  truth,  so  parables  have  been  invented. 
When  we  use  analogies,  however,  we  find 
Carlyle.  sometimes  "THE  LEGS  OF  THE  LAME 

ARE  NOT  EQUAL."  Carlyle  says  "ALL 
VISIBLE  THINGS  ARE  EMBLEMS." 
The  world  needs  some  concrete  example.  I 
claim  the  game  of  chess  as  an  exact  model 
of  Society.  Herein  do  we  find  many  things 
upon  which  to  instruct  ouselves. 

First  we  observe,  that  profoundly  interest- 
ing fact,  that  public  interest  in  chess  keeps 
pace  with  the  progress  of  intellectual  develop- 
ment. Reasoning  from  this  one  would 


65 

naturally  conclude  that  THE  WHOLE 
WORLD  WILL  BE  CIVILIZED  when  all 
men  have  learned  to  appreciate  its  science 
and  its  philosophy.  Realizing  the  salutary 
influence  of  chess,  the  FRENCH  GOVERN- 
MENT has,  on  more  than  one  occasion,  pro- 
vided prizes  for  National  tournaments. 
Canada  comes  next  in  the  path  of  progess. 
In  that  country  the  game  has  gained  entrance 
into  the  public  schools.  Chess  is  in  no  sense 
a  game  of  CHANCE,  but  a  SCIENCE. 
Philosophers  like  Leibnitz,  Voltaire,  Rous- 
seau, Frederick  the  Great,  Buckle  and  Frank- 
lin were  chess  players.  Alone  among  games 
the  use  of  chess  has  been  sanctioned  by  the 
teachers  of  all  beliefs — Moslem,  Buddhist  and 
Christian,  both  Catholic  and  Protestant. 
Erudite  writers  have  illustrated  its  history. 
Acute  intellects  have  elaborated  its  theory. 
Here  we  have  the  "King,  "  the  "Queen,"  the 
"Bishops,"  the  "Knights,"  the  "Castles,"  the 
"Pawns."  The  King,  of  all  the  men,  is  the 
most  useless,  yet  the  most  important.  He  has 


66 

plenty  of  power,  nominally,  which  pleases 
him  and  does'nt  hurt  me;  but  he  can  move 
only  one  square  at  a  time,  except  when  he 
"castles,"  and  then  it  is  supposed  danger  is 
impending  and  by  that  "DIVINITY  THAT 
DOTH  HEDGE  A  KING"  he  is  hurried  off 
by  his  loyal  subjects  to  a  place  of  safety. 
Originally  the  King  could  move  two'  squares, 
or  even  three ;  but  now  in  the  intellectual  de- 
velopment of  man  and  the  progress  of  the 
science  of  society,  such  an  irregular  action  is 
considered  VERY  BAD  TASTE  IN  A 
GENTLEMAN  of  his  quality.  Indeed,  since 
the  American  Revolution  the  world  has  not 
heard  much  about  the  "DIVINE  RIGHT 
OF  KINGS."  The  King  who  once  had  un- 
'  bounded  power  now  has  his  power  limited. 
The  "Queen"  used  to  move  but  one  square 
at  a  time,  and  diagonally,  and  was  in  conse- 
quence the  very  weakest  piece  upon  the 
board;  but  life  is  a  game  upon  a  stage  in 
which  all  men  and  women  are  the  players, 
and  now  WOMAN  has  come  forward  to  play 


67 

her  part.  The  Queen  has  more  power  than 
the  King,  more  power  than  the  Bishop  and 
Knight,  but  the  power  of  each  is  "RELA- 
TIVE" and  not  "ABSOLUTE."  Every- 
thing depends  upon  position  and  circum- 
stance. The  Bishop  stands  next  to  the 
throne,  always  loyal  in  his  support  of  con- 
servatism and  authority.  There  is  m>  more 
thorough  support  of  the  State  than  the  "Hier- 
archy." Our  Bishop,  when  he  moves,  always 
moves  along  the  diagonal,  to  the  right  or  to 
the  left,  as  though  in  a  quandary  between  the 
natural  and  the  "SUPER  NATURAL"  as 
liable  to  turn  back  as  to  press  forward.  There 
are  those  who  have  asserted  that  the  whole 
machinery  of  his  ecclesiastical  functions  was 
the  invention  of  politicians,  who  thought  by 
this  means  and  through  superstition,  the  more 
easily  to  govern  those  whom  reason  could 
not  influence.  Be  it  so,  or  otherwise,  the 
principle  he  represents  in  society,  namely,  re- 
ligion, even  if  you  do  think  of  it  as  supersti- 
tion, is  still  a  potent  factor.  Look  beneath 


68 

the  mitre  and  the  sacerdotal  robe  and  you 
will  discover  a  man  of  great  importance — ES- 
PECIALLY TO  THE  KING!!  See  him  lift 
up  holy  hands  of  horror  at  war  as  he  poses 
as  an  Ambassador  of  the  "Prince  of  Peace." 
Hear  him  in  the  next  breath  praying  for  the 
success  of  "OUR  ARMY/'  or,  it  may  be,  as 
Chaplain  exhorting  the  soldiers  to  "TRUST 
IN  GOD  AND  KEEP  YOUR  POWDER 
DRY." 

What  can  we  say  to  those  who  pose  as 
Philosophers  to  construct  for  us  a  new  and 
better  order  of  Society,  and  yet  forsooth  shut 
down  upon  all  discussion  of  religious  ques- 
tions? Yet  they  denounce  army  appropriations 
or  the  conduct  of  the  war,  wherever  it  happens 
to  be.  If  they  knew  the  science  of  chess, 
which  is  the  science  of  Society,  they  would 
know  that  there  is  theoretically  the  difference 
of  a  "pawn"  between  the  power  of  the  Bishop 
and  the  power  of  the  Knight.  What  a 
thought  is  this  for  those  who  would  reform 
Society.  If  the  Knight  be  taken  as  the  repre- 


69 

sentative  of  physical  force — for  his  is  the 
business  of  war.  And  if  the  Bishop  be  taken 
as  the  representative  of  moral  power — for  his 
is  the  gospel  of  peace  and  goodwill — then, 
seeing  that  these  forces  are  so  nearly  balanced, 
and  the  slight  difference  is  in  favor  of  the 
Bishop — the  moral  force — surely  this  Society 
exhibits  a  WORTHY  MODEL  INDEED. 
It  would  be  well  for  those  who  have  repudi- 
ated the  idea  of  aristocracy  to  show  wherein 
"DEMOCRACY"  has  ever  exhibited  such 
equity  which  is  justice  and  a  balance  of 
things.  The  Knight  is  the  solider.  If  any- 
one objects  to  him,  so  do  I.  But  he  is  here. 
WE  DEAL  NOT  WITH  THE  IDEAL 
STATE  when  they  shall  beat  their  swords  Bible- 
into  plough  shares  and  their  spears  into  prun- 
ing hooks;  when  Nation  shall  not  lift  up 
sword  against  Nation,  neither  shall  they  learn 
war  any  more.  We  have  had  but  one  "UNI- 
VERSAL PEACE  CONFERENCE"  and 
immediately  all  Nations  in  the  world  sent 
representatives  of  their  armies  to  China!!! 


70 

The  Knight  is  with  us  still.  The  Knight  is 
on  horseback  and  rides  over  everybody  and 
everything.  He  moves  in  a  manner  different 
from  that  of  any  other  man  on  the  board. 
How  can  you  require  such  an  one  to  act  from 
any  moral  considerations?  His  is  the  busi- 
ness of  war — of  brute  force.  No  question  is 

Ella  Wheeler     ever  settled  until  it  is  settled  right;  but  the 
Wilcox. 

knight    says    not    so.       To     him     "MIGHT 

MAKES  RIGHT."  The  gilded  glory  of  a 
sunlit  sky  to  him  is  human  gore.  He  is  con- 
temptible, except  in  self-defense  or  in  cases 
of  extreme  emergency.  Such  exigencies  of 
circumstance  do  arise.  An  illustration  of 
this  in  chess  is  given  in  the  "Philidor  mate," 
wherein  the  Queen  is  killed,  nobly  sacrificing 
herself,  but  the  battle  is  yet  won  by  the  sol- 
dier springing  in  with  an  attack  upon  the 
enemy,  helpless,  "CHECKMATE"  in  the 
corner.  The  Chinese  call  chess  "choke-choo- 
kong-ki,"  which  means,  literally,  the  play  of 
the  science  of  war.  War,  as  we  know  it  to- 
day, will  be  a  horrid  nightmare  of  the  past 


when  the  Nations  of  the  world  have  learned 
how  to  minister  to  the  combative  propensities 
of  human  nature  by  substituting  the  harmless 
imitation  of  it  in  chess,  instead  of  the  car- 
nage of  the  battle  field.  HEREIN  LIES 
THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  STUDY. 
Would  we  exert  our  greatest  and  best  in- 
fluence in  Society  we  must  play  chess;  we 
must  cause  people  to  love  chess.  This  mes- 
sage is  for  you  "MASTERS,  LORDS  AND  Markham. 
RULERS  OF  ALL  LANDS/'  And  for 
you  "ALL  PEOPLE  THAT  ON  EARTH  p*alms. 
DO  DWELL." 

Of  the  "Castles"  we  need  not  speak  par- 
ticularly, suffice  it  to  say  that  for  Kings  they 
are  very  necessary.  Let  us  look  at  the 
"Pawns."  There  are  eight  of  them  on  either 
side  of  the  game.  Not  even  "MEN" — 
MERELY  "PAWNS,"  ranged  in  line  in 
front  of  the  King,  Queen,  Bishops,  Knights 
and  Castles  they  stand  ready  for  the  fray. 
With  what  alacity  they  spring,  "FORWARD 
MARCH/'  two  squares  on  the  first  move. 


72 

Thrown  at  the  enemy  and  sacrificed  almost 
indiscriminately  they  like  it.  They  are  the 
world's  volunteers  for  destruction.  But  after 
the  first  gush  of  intoxication  evaporates,  and 
the  sad  realities  are  experienced,  the  "pawn," 
as  the  "VOLUNTEER"  advances  but  one 
slow  step  at  a  time.  If  an  "enemy"  is  captur- 
ed it  is  by  a  move  either  to  the  right  or  to 
the  left,  a  very  diagonal  zig-zag  process 
scarcely  worthy  of  being  dignified  with  the 
name  of  "SUCCESS."  Yet,  alas!  if  all  the 
pawns  are  captured  and  killed,  the  next 
game  finds  another  crop  of  "suckers"  ready 
to  take  their  place.  But  notice!!  A  PAWN 
CAN  CHECK  A  KING.  What  a  subtle 
egotism  is  this  power  of  Democracy"!!  Yet 
here  again,  do  we  see  the  science  and  philoso- 
phy of  the  game,  for,  whereas  a  King  must 
ever  fear  and  avoid  the  vulgar  attack  of  the 
enemy's  pawns,  he  must  preserve  and  nurture 
his  own.  For  Lo!  when  the  Queen  is  dead 
and  the  Bishops  have  gone  to  the  reward  of 
their  citizenship  in  heaven,  and  the  Knights 


73 

have  fallen  in  a  sea  of  gore,  and  the  Castles 
are  in  ruins  and  the  King  alone  in  solitary 
state  sighs  "ALAS  FOR  ALL  MY  GREAT- 
NESS"— an  insignificant  pawn  reaching  the 
eighth  square  is  crowned  with  laurels  and  im- 
mortality and  becomes  a  "QUEEN."  Let 
us  not  say  the  "King"  has  "Hobson's  choice," 
he  will  marry  her.  But  let  us  consider  how 
quickly  the  opponent  is  vanquished  and 
VANQUISHED  BY  A  "WOMAN." 

Apart  from  the  illustration  of  Justice  re- 
warding merit  for  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, we  can  see  another  lesson,  if  possible, 
of  greater  importance.  We  see  how  weak 
things  are  chosen  sometimes  to  confound 
things  that  are  mighty.  Even  the  King  can- 
not say  unto  the  "pawn"  I  have  no  need  of 
you.  Nay,  rather  those  things  which  at  first 
appear  insignificant  at  times  prove  all  im- 
portant. Of  all  that  is  above  and  all  that  is 
beneath  there  is  an  essential  solidarity.  The 
members  should  have  the  same  care  one  for 
another.  Despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones, 


74 

for  they  without  us  and  we  without  them  can- 
not be  made  perfect. 

Would  we  EDIFY  OR  BUILD  UP  So- 
ciety we  will  not  effect  anything  by  cutting 
off  the  heads  of  Kings.  He  who  would  lift 
exclusively  at  the  top  of  the  edifice  might  lift 
off  the  roof;  but  he  who  lifts  at  the  bottom 
if  he  moves  anything  at  all  must  lift  the  whole 
Archimedes,  superstructure.  I  have  a  "LEVER"  give  me 
a  "FULCRUM"  and  I  will  lift  the  world. 
And  when  human  Society  shows  how  the 
humblest  pawn  may  pass  from  the  bottom  to 
the  very  top  to  become  a  "QUEEN,"  the 
world  will  be  the  better  for  it.  Where  is  now 
the  King,  the  Bishop,  the  Knight!  The 
pawn  becomes  a  Queen!!  "The  women  are 
the  best  men."  Numerically  they  are  half 
the  population,  always  "THE  BETTER 
HALF."  Woman  must  be  accorded  her 
proper  glory  of  recognition.  When  you 
find  women  completely  ignored  in  the  gov- 
ernment can  you  wonder  that  the  corruption 
is  too  abominable  to  contemplate  ?  I  do  not 


75 

mean  that  women  shall  vote;  but  I  do  mean 
that  they  shall  "FIGHT"— fight;  not  with 
the  weapons  of  a  carnal  warfare;  but  with 
love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness, 
goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance — fight 
for  the  dignity  and  rights  of  WOMAN- 
HOOD AND  MOTHERHOOD.  If  not 
paramount,  the  influence  of  the  finer  qualities 
of  womanhood  should  at  least  balance  the 
baser  and  more  sordid  passion  of  man.  No 
war  will  ever  be  fought  when  the  women  are 
a  unit  against  it.  No  good  man  ever  had  a 
bad  mother.  "THE  HAND  THAT  ROCKS 
THE  CRADLE  RULES  THE  WORLD." 

We  must  learn,  then,  to  fight  not  the 
Kings,  but  the  slaves  who  make  the  King. 
Our  labor  must  be  not  from  the  top  down, 
but  from  the  bottom  up.  We  cannot  abolish 
the  King  and  the  aristocracy.  Neither  can 
we  elevate  a  pawn  to  the  peerage.  No 
emancipation  proclamation  ever  freed  a  slave. 
THEORETICALLY  THESE  THINGS 
ARE  DONE;  ACTUALLY  NEVER.  If  we 


76 

fail  to  understand  the  NAURE  of  each  in- 
dividual existence  we  will  be  deceived  our- 
selves, and  also  lead  others  into  error.  Kings, 
Commanders  and  Presidents  are  not  those 
merely  who  wield  sceptres,  or  are  elected  by 
some  haphazard,  having  been  chosen  by  lot, 
Xenophon.  or  by  will  of  the  people,  or  who  have  ob- 
tained their  position  by  violence  or  fraud; 
but  they  are  those  who  understand  the  art  of 
government.  In  everything  requiring  care 
and  superintendence  the  few  men  are  the 
aristocracy — THE  man  in  THE  place  is  THE 
KING.  This  universal  essential  principle  of 
leadership  of  the  many  by  the  few  does  not 
make  the  leader  a  "SERVANT  OF  THE 
PEOPLE/'  And  just  so  long  as  society  has 
so  many  of  its  members  individually  incap- 
able of  doing  anything  only  by  acting  under 
directions,  so  long  will  the  difference  between 
slavery  and  service  be  but  a  fanciful  distinc- 
tion. For  the  governor  or  king  is  the  one  who 
issues  orders  and  the  servant  or  slave  is  the 
one  to  whom  they  are  given  to  obey.  More- 


77 

• 

over,  whilst  so  many  men  are  under  the  rule 
of  passion  to  such  a  degree  that  they  are  un- 
able to  act  according  to  the  higher  instincts, 
shall  we  consider  them  "FREE."  .Who  can 
doubt,  that  as  men  exhibit  different  qualities 
of  body,  and  some  grow  to  be  strong  and  well 
formed,  and  some  are  weak  and  malformed, 
that  there  are  also  differences  and  dissimi- 
larities in  the  mind?  Not  the  body  but  the 

til  I* 

mind  is  the  standard  of  the  man.  What  is 
there  in  the  man  ? 

As  the  essential  means  of  bringing  about 
the  new  evolution  of  Society  the  universal 
diffusion  of  knowledge  is  insisted  upon;  but 
it  must  also  be  insisted  upon  that  true  edu- 
cation is  the  leading  out  of  natural  or  in- 
herent power.  YOU  CANNOT  MAKE  A  Chinese 
SILK  PURSE  OUT  OF  A  SOW'S  EAR.  Proverb' 
We  are  apt  to  congratulate  ourselves  upon 
our  system  of  "compulsory"  education;  but 
have  our  educators  ever  really  considered 
that  force  musit  ever  be  brutal  and  brutaliz- 


ing.  It  is  no  wonder,  if,  after  a  process  by 
which  the  tender  brain  is  CRAMMED  with 
matter  extraneous  and  foreign  to  its  instincts, 
many  from  our  public  schools  grow  up  to 
avenge  themselves  by  crime  against  society. 

Cicero.  TRUE  EDUCATION  IS  THAT  WHICH 

TEACHES  MEN  TO  DO  THAT  OP 
THEMSELVES  WHICH  THEY  MIGHT 
BE  COMPELLED  TO  DO  BY  LAW.  It 
can  never  be  "COMPULSORY."  It  is 
simply  an  extension  of  the  natural  faculty  of 

Morris  play»  s'°  that  life  becomes  a  blessed  art  which 

is  joy  in  creative  work.  That  sort  of  train- 
ing which  teaches  how  to  get  on  in  life  by 
the  mere  acquisition  of  wealth  through  a  fit- 
ness for  some  good  position  with  easy  work 
and  hard  pay,  or  inflates  with  notions  of  im- 
portance concerning  bodily  strength  in  ex- 
hibitions of  it  in  the  brutal  game  of  football, 
or  even  high  percentages  in  graduations 
which  often  evidence  mere  cleverness  apart 

Aristotle.  from  intelligence  is  mean  and  illiberal,  and  is 
not  worthy  of  being  called  "EDUCATION" 


79 

at  all.    We  need,  not  one  whit  less  of  know- 
ledge ;  but  more  of  wisdom. 

"  Knowledge  and  wisdom  far  from  being  one 

Have  oft  times  no  connection.     Knowledge  dwells 

In  heads  replete  with  thoughts  of  other  men, 

Wisdom  in  minds  attentive  to  their  own, 

Knowledge  a  rude  unprofitable  mass,  Cowper. 

The  mere  materials  with  which  wisdom  builds, 

Till  smoothed  and  squared  and  fitted  to  its  place, 

Does  but  encumber  whom  it  seems  to  enrich. 

Knowledge  is  proud  that  (he)   has  learned  so  much; 

Wisdom  is  humble  that  (he)  knows  no  more." 

An  Arabian  proverb  has  it,  "The  Light  of 
Allah's  Truth  will  often  penetrate  an  empty 
head  more  easily  than  one  too  CRAMMED 
WITH  LEARNING." 

Education  will  never  be  a  science  'till  it 
has  been  brought  to  rest  upon  the  principles 
of  science.  THE  KINDERGARTEN 
SYSTEM,  by  giving  encouragement  to  the 
natural  faculty  of  play,  is  at  least  founded 
upon  correct  principles,  and  is  in  harmony 
with  human  nature.  Now  "Chess"  is  the  per- 
fected Kindergarten  Society— NOT  IDEAL 
BUT  ACTUAL.  Men  and  women  are  but 
children  of  a  larger  growth.  The  school  of 


8o 

life  has  a  professor  named  "Experience/'  who 
sometimes  charges  high  fees.  There  are  very 
many  grades  and  classes  for  the  different 
members  who  attend  as  pupils  in  this  school. 
No  injustice  must  be  done,  and  FOR  THIS 
REASON  there  is  no  attempt  to  abolish 
class  distinction.  How  unsophisticated  are 
those  whose  dream  of  "EQUALITY"  makes 
them  blind  to  the  necessity  for  "CLASSES" 
so  essential  and  so  natural!! 

Pope.  "  Order  is  heaven's  first  law,  and  this  confessed 

Some  are  and  must  be  greater  than  the  rest." 

It  might  be  remarked  that  chess  is  played 
with  "WHITE  MEN"  AGAINST  "BLACK 
MEN."  Occasionally  a  game  is  played  with 
a  set  of  white  men  against  "red"  men;  but 
"RED"  MEN  ARE  BECOMING  VERY 
SCARCE.  White  always  moves  first;  is  con- 
sequently the  aggressor  and  begins  the  at- 
tack. The  black  men  in  China  shut  them- 
selves up  inside  their  big  wall  and  their  for- 
tifications and  tried  to  avoid  playing  any 
games  with  the  white  men  for  over  a  thou- 


8i 

sand  years ;  but  latterly  they  have  been  forced 
to  play.  Already  "WHITE  HAS  LOST 
HIS  BISHOPS."  I  tell  you  the  position  is 
interesting.  I  am  not  an  expert  but  I  do 
know  that  white  has  made  several  hasty 
moves.  No  moves  are  given  back.  I  notice 
also  that  his  pieces  are  not  properly  adjust- 
ed upon  the  "square."  The  "key"  to  the  sit- 
uation is  not  very  evident.  The  "problem" 
has  yet  to  be  solved.  On  one  side  I  recog- 
nize lots  of  skill ;  but  on  the  other  almost  in- 
domitable perseverance.  Of  course  I  think 
white  will  win  in  the  end;  but  the  end  is  not 
yet.  The  possibilities  are  for  to  "win," 
"lose,"  "stalemate"  or  "draw."  Several  pen- 
alties have  to  be  paid  for  false  moves.  It  is 
not  the  first  time  John  Chinaman,  Esq.,  has 
figured  on  a  game  of  chess.  And  even  if 
John  does  fail  this  time  there  are  FOUR 
HUNDRED  MILLION  GOOD  PLAY- 
ERS ready  to  take  his  place.  The  most 
rabid  "Democrat"  is  far  from  willing  to  vote 
and  abide  the  decision  of  such  a  majority. 


82 

Though  chess  has  been  called  "the  art  of 
human  reason,"  its  devotees  have  been,  in- 
variably, considered  "cranks." 

Plato  was  perhaps  the  first  to  notice  the 
intimate  association  between  madness  and 
genius.  Cicero  makes  a  joke  about  it  when 
he  says:  "I  could  have  wished  that  I  had 
been  myself  a  little  more  melancholy." 

1 '  Great  wit  and  madness  closely  are  allied 
And  thin  partitions  oft  their  boundaries  divide." 

This  is  not  the  dullness  of  the  ignorant  and 
incapable,  whose  minds  are  a  blank  because 
they  have  no  ideas,  whose  hands  are  listless 
for  want  of  occupation;  it  is  the  sadness  of  the 
most  learned,  the  most  intelligent,  the  most 
Boston  industrious;  the  weary  misery  of  those  who 

Investigator,  are  rich  in  the  attainments  of  culture,  who 
have  the  keys  to  the  chambers  of  knowledge, 
and  wings  to  bear  them  to  the  heaven  of  the 
ideal.  All  things  are  full  of  labor,  and  in 
much  wisdom  is  much  grief,  and  he  that  in- 
creaseth  knowledge  increaseth  sorrow.  Can 
we  escape  this  brooding  melancholy?  Of 


83 

great  workers  has  any  truly  intellectual  per- 
son escaped  it  ever? 

I  have,  myself  (as  an  illustration  of  the 
curious  combination  of  insanity  and  genius 
which  evidently  runs  in  families)  a  relative, 
familiarly  known  as  "Uncle  Sam,"  who  be- 
came so  infatuated  and  captivated  with  the 
absorbing  and  abstracting  properties  of  chess 
that  he  COMPLETELY  FORGOT  HIM- 
SELF and  went  all  the  way  to  the  Philippine 
Islands  to  play  a  game.  But  having  no  wish 
to  appear  egotistical  I  will  not  touch  further 
upon  personal  and  family  matters. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

But  some  one  will  say  "DO  YOU 
REALLY  TAKE  CHESS  AS  A  MODEL 
OF  SOCIETY"?  Yes,  my  friend,  I  do. 
Look  at  the  "men."  They  are  not  made  out 
of  nothing,  and  hence  they  were  not  "cre- 
ated/' They  are  made  out  of  wood,  or  clay, 
or  gold,  or  brass,  or  iron.  There  are  no 
"SELF-MADE  MEN"— not  chess  men,  and 
not  men  in  Society.  A  man  is  made  I  say  of 
"WOOD,"  or  common  "CLAY,"  or 
"GOLD,"  or  it  may  be  he  is  all  "BRASS," 
Bible.  or  forsooth,  "A  MAN  OF  IRON."  If  he 

has  been  made  out  of  clay,  shall  the  thing 
formed  say  of  him  that  formed  it,  why  hast 
thou  made  me  thus?  Hath  not  the  potter 
power  over  the  clay  of  the  same  lump  to 
make  one  into  a  vessel  of  honor  and  another 
into  a  vessel  of  dishonor.  What  if  the  clay 
doth  unto  dust  return!!  If  the  grave  shall 


85 

cover  both  the  gold  and  the  clay  NOT 
EVEN  THERE  ARE  THEY  "EQUAL/' 
Surely  if  we  take  chess  as  our  model  we 
must  see  that  the  moves  are  not  made  by  any 
will  of  the  men  themselves;  but  by  a  POW- 
ER AND  INTELLIGENCE  SUPREME!! 
Wherein  then  does  man  differ  from  the  most 
veritable  automaton?  I  protest  that  if  some  Huxley. 
great  Power  would  agree  to  make  me  always 
think  what  is  true,  and  do<  what  is  right,  on 
condition  of  being  turned  into  a  sort  of  clock, 
and  wound  up  every  morning,  I  should  in- 
stantly close  with  the  offer.  The  poet  says: 

"  We  are  no  other  than  a  moving  row 

Of  magic  shadow  shapes  that  come  and  go 

Round  with  the  sun-ill utuined  lantern  held 

In  midnight  by  the  Master  of  the  show; 
11  But  helpless  pieces  of  the  game  he  plays 

Upon  the  chequer-board  of  nights  and  days; 

Hither  and  thither  moves  and  checks  and  slays, 

And  one  by  one  back  in  the  closet  lays." 

DOES  THIS,  THEREFORE,  TAKE 
RESPONSIBILITY  AWAY  FROM 
MAN?  Are  we  then  moved  like  "HELP- 
LESS PIECES"?  Some  people  say  they 


86 


Shakespeare,  believe  there  is  "DIVINITY  THAT 
SHAPES  OUR  ENDS  ROUGH  HEW 
THEM  AS  WE  WILL."  This  belief  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  founded  upon  any 
reasoned  theory  of  the  functions  of  human 
government  at  all;  but  simply  consists  of  an 
opinion  which  may,  or  may  not,  be  true  that 
there  is  a  Divinely  appointed  order  and  a 
spiritual  domain.  No  discussion  can  well  be 
entered  upon  with  a  disputant  who  requires 
a  series  of  Theological  propositions  to  be 
taken  for  granted;  for  there  is  no  end  to  rea- 
soning which  proceeds  upon  a  false  founda- 
tion. There  may  be  acts  of  some  men  so  ex- 
traordinary, and  seeming  in  a  manner  to  de- 
mand some  IMPULSE  OF  DIVINE  POS- 
SESSION, and  inspiration,  to  account  for 
them;  and  there  perhaps  we  may  introduce 
spiritual  agency,  not  to  destroy  but  to  prompt 
the  human  will;  not  to  create  in  us  another 
agency,  but  offering  images  to  stimulate  our 
own;  images  that  in  no  sort  or  kind  make  our* 
action  involuntary,  but  give  occasion  rather 


CfC9fO. 


Plutarch. 


87 

to  spontaneous  action,  aided  and  sustained  by 
feelings  of  confidence  and  hope.  For  either 
we  must  totally  dismiss  and  exclude  spiritual 
influences  from  every  kind  of  causality  and 
origination  in  what  we  do,  or  else  what  other 
way  can  we  conceive  in  which  spiritual  aid 
and  co-operation  can  act?  CERTAINLY 
WE  CANNOT  SUPPOSE  that  spiritual 
beings,  if  they  exist,  actually  and  literally  turn 
our  bodies  and  direct  our  hands  and  our  feet 
this  way  or  that,  to  do  what  is  right;  but  that 
by  certain  motives  and  ideas  which  they  sug- 
gest, they  either  excite  the  active  powers  of 
the  will,  or  else  restrain  them. 

About  this  there  are  AS  MANY  OPIN- 
IONS AS  THERE  ARE  MEN.  These 
opinions  are  so  various  and  so  repugnant  to 
one  another,  it  is  possible  that  none  of  them  Cicero. 
may  be,  and  absolutely  impossible  that  more 
than  one  should  be  right.  This  makes  it  very 
much  easier  to  discover  what  is  not  true  than 
what  is.  How  feeble  is  the  mind  of  man! 
siq  jo  asanoo  »ip  si  ^aoijs  MOJJ 


88 


Coleridge. 


Cicero. 


can  explain  as  to  whence  he  came,  whither  he 
is  going,  or  why  he  is  here.  Truth,  if  it  ex- 
ists, is  sunk  in  the  deep,  hid  in  secret,  en- 
veloped in  darkness ! ! 

Socrates  claimed  to  have  been  under  the 
constant  guidance  of  a  "DEMON/'  He  is 
said  to  have  been  the  wisest  man  that  ever 
lived,  and  yet,  indeed  he  thought  that  noth- 
ing could  be  known.  He  excepted  only  one 
thing  asserting  that  "HE  DID  NOT  KNOW 
THAT  HE  DID  NOT  KNOW."  But  if 
this  be  the  case  there  is  absolutely  nothing 
which  can  be  known,  not  even  that  very  piece 
of  knowledge  which  Socrates  had  left  for 
himself,  for  it  cannot  be  said  with  any  con- 
sistency that  nothing  can  be  comprehended 
if  it  is  asserted  at  the  same  time  that  the  fact 
of  the  impossibility  can  be  comprehended. 

These  reflections  seem  to  have  been  neces- 
sary to  restrain  men  from  rashness.  What 
folly  is  this  dogmatic  egotism  which  would 
map  out  exact  lines  for  Society!!  We  should 
consider  that  the  problems  of  life  have 


89 

puzzled  the  brains  of  the  greatest  Philoso- 
phers in  all  ages.  A  truly  great  man  exclaims 

with  becoming  humility:  "I  AM  BUT  AS  A   Sir  Isaac 

Newton. 
LITTLE  CHILD  PLAYING  WITH  THE 

PEBBLES  UPON  THE  SEA  SHORE, 
WHILST  THE  GREAT  OCEAN  OF 
TRUTH  LIES  UNEXPLORED  BE- 
FORE ME."  We  have  not  yet  determined 
how  much  of  human  action  is  due  to  SPIRIT- 
UAL AGENCY.  How  much  to  "FATE,"  or 
"NECESSITY."  How  much  to  HUMAN 
VOLITION.  How  much  to  ''economic  de- 
terminism." How  much  to  "EVOLU- 
TION." 

Nothing  can  be  more  discreditable  than  for   Cicero, 
a  man's  assent  and   approbation   to   precede 
his  knowledge  and  perception  of  a  fact. 

The  beginning  of  all  wisdom  is  absolute,  Descartes. 
universal  scepticism — all  the  impressions  of 
childhood,  all  the  conclusions  of  the  senses, 
all  of  what  are  deemed  the  axioms  of  life, 
must  be  discarded,  and  from  the  simple  fact 
of  consciousness  the  entire  scheme  of  know- 


90 

Milton.  ledge  must  be  evolved.      If  a   man   believes 

things  only  because  his  pastor  says  so,  or  the 
assembly  so  determines,  without  knowing 
other  reason,  though  the  belief  be  true,  yet 
the  very  truth  he  holds  becomes  his  heresy. 

Cicero.  Nature  doubtless  has  given  us  facilities  for 

viewing  and  discerning  herself,  and  could  we 
go  through  life  keeping  our  eye  upon  her, 
our  best  guide,  there  would  be  n'o  reason 
certainly  why  we  should  be  in  want  of  phil- 
osophy or  learning;  but,  as  it  is,  we  are  fur- 
nished only  with  some  feeble  rays  of  light 
which  we  immediately  extinguish  so  com- 
pletely by  evil  habits  and  erroneous  opinions 
that  the  LIGHT  OF  NATURE  IS  NO- 
WHERE VISIBLE.  The  seeds  of  virtues 
are  natural  to  our  constitutions,  and,  were 
they  suffered  to  come  to  maturity  would 
doubtless  conduct  us  to  a  happy  life;  but  now, 
as  soon  as  we  are  born  and  received  into  the 
world  we  are  instantly  familiarized  with  all 
kinds  of  depravity  and  perversity  of  opinions ; 
so  that  we  may  be  said  to  suck  in  error  with 


our  nurse's  milk.  How  frequently  are  we 
disturbed  by  some  subtle  conclusion,  so  that 
we  give  way  and  change  our  opinions  even  in 
things  seemingly  at  first  most  evident  ?  How 
then  can  we  presume  to  speak  with  "AU- 
THORITY" upon  matters  about  which  there 
is  certainly  some  obscurity?  Reason  cannot  Sir  Philipp 
show  herself  to  be  more  reasonable  than  l>y 
ceasing  to  reason  about  things  above  reason. 

There  is  no  need  for  us  to  mark  out  any 
exact  lines  for  Society,  even  if  we  should  suc- 
ceed in  our  attempt  to  do  so.  The  law  to  Froude's 
govern  the  case  has  been  ENACTED 
FROM  ETERNITY.  It  has  its  existence 
independent  of  us,  and  will  enforce  itself 
either  to  reward  or  punish,  as  the  attitude  we 
assume  toward  it  is  wise  or  otherwise.  Our 
human  laws  are  but  copies  more  or  less  im- 
perfect of  the  eternal  laws,  so  far  as  we  can 
read  them,  and  either  succeed  and  promote 
our  welfare,  or  fail  and  bring  confusion  and 
disaster,  according  as  the  legislators  insight 
has  detected  the  true  principle,  or  has  been 


Young's 
Principles  of 
Government. 


Gibbon. 


distorted  by  ignorance  and  selfishness.  We 
may  think  of  "LAW"  as  a  RULE  OF  AC- 
TION commanding  what  the  citizens  are  to 
do,  prohibiting  what  they  are  not  to  do;  but 
the  operation  of  the  wisest  laws  is  imperfect 
and  precarious.  They  seldom  inspire  virtue. 
They  cannot  always  restrain  vice.  Their 
power  is  insufficient  to  PROHIBIT  all  that 
they  condemn;  nor  can  they  always  PUNISH 
the  actions  which  they  prohibit.  Law,  rightly 
understood,  has  reference  not  at  all  to  that 
which  is  a  mere  matter  of  opinion,  so  that  one 
judge  interprets  it  in  one  way  and  another  in 
another.  We  dare  not  look  for  "LAW"  in 
the  accretions  of  adventitious  lumber  .piled 
upon  us  through  the  process  of  ages  by  the 
cunning  and  perverse  ingenuity  of  class  con- 
scious lawyers  and  self  seeking  politicians; 
for  it  would  take  the  wealth  of  a  modern 
trust  to  buy  the  books,  the  wisdom  of  Sol- 
omon to  interpret  them,  the  patience  of  Job, 
and  the  life  of  Methuselah  to  read  them.  If, 
as  is  indeed  the  case,  many  pernicious  enact- 


93 

merits  are  made,  which  have  no  more  right 
to  the  name  of  law  than  the  mutual  engage- 
ments of  robbers,  ARE  WE  BOUND  TO  C!cero- 
CALL  THEM  LAWS?  For  as  we  cannot 
call  the  recipes  of  ignorant  and  unskilful 
empirics,  who  give  poisons  instead  of  med- 
icines, the  prescriptions  of  a  physician,  so 
likewise,  we  cannot  call  that  the  true  law  of 
a  people  of  whatever  kind  it  may  be,  if  it 
enjoins,  what  is  injurious,  let  the  people  re- 
ceive it  as  they  will.  TRUE  LAW  IS 
RIGHT  REASON  CONFORMABLE  TO 
NATURE,  UNIVERSAL,  UNCHANGE- 
ABLE, ETERNAL;  whose  commands  urge 
us  to  duty,  and  whose  prohibitions  restrain 
us  from  evil.  Whether  it  enjoins  or  forbids 
the  GOOD  RESPECT  ITS  INJUNC- 
TIONS, AND  THE  WICKED  TREAT 
THEM  WITH  INDIFFERENCE.  This 
law  cannot  be  contradicted  by  any  other  law, 
and  is  not  liable  either  to  derogation  or  ab- 
rogation. Neither  Congress,  nor  the  will  of 
the  people,  can  give  us  any  license  or  dis- 


94 

pensation  for  not  obeying  it.  It  needs  no 
other  expositor  and  interpreter  than  our  own 
conscience.  IT  IS  NOT  ONE  THING  IN 
SAN  FRANCISCO  AND  ANOTHER  IN 
LONDON;  one  thing  one  day  and  another 
tomorrow;  but  in  all  times  and  nations  it 
must  for  ever  reign  eternal  and  imperishable. 
How.  can  we  judge  of  it  as  good  or  evil  ex- 
cept by  Nature?  And  since  good  and  evil 
are  the  first  principles  of  Nature,  certainly 
we  should  judge  in  the  same  manner  of  all 
honorable  and  all  shameful  things,  referring 
them  all  to  the  LAW  OF  NATURE.  For 
virtue  is  the  consistent  and  perpetual  course 
of  life,  and  to  LIFE  we  have  an  INALIEN- 
ABLE RIGHT,  with  LIBERTY  AND 
THE  PURSUIT  OF  HAPPINESS,  and 
these  blessings  can  only  be  ours  to  enjoy  as 
the  natural  result  of  the  right  use  of  the 
proper  means  in  Nature.  If  it  were  other- 
wise, OPINION  alone  might  constitute  vir- 
tue and  happiness,  which  is  the  most  absurd 
of  suppositions.  For  even  the  virtue  of  a 


95 

tree,  or  of  a  horse  (in  which  expression 
there  is  an  abuse  of  terms),  does  not  exist  in 
our  opinions  only,  but  in  Nature,  and  if  this 
is  the  case  what  is  honorable  and  disgraceful 
must  also  be  discriminated  by  Nature. 

Law,  therefore,  is  THE  JUST  DISTINC- 
TION BETWEEN  RIGHT  AND 
WRONG.  It  is  neither  a  thing  contrived  by 
the  genius  of  man,  nor  established  by  any 
decree  of  the  people;  but  a  certain  eternal 
principle  which  governs  the  entire  universe. 
When  natural  laws  shall  have  been  under- 
stood and  the  knowledge  of  them  universally 
diffused  among  men,  every  man  for  himself 
recognizing  those  laws,  he  cannot  but  obey 
them,  for  they  are  the  laws  also  of  his  own 
existence.  He  who  does  not  respect  "THE 
MAJESTY  OF  THE  LAW"  fights  against 
himself  and  does  violence  to  the  very  Nature 
and  Constitution  of  Man. 

WOULD  WE  ESTABLISH  JUSTICE 
IN  OUR  SOCIAL  FABRIC  WE  MUST 
SEEK  AND  FIND  BOTH  BEGINNING 


96 

AND  END  OF  LAW  IN  THAT  WHICH 
HAS  EXISTED  IN  NATURE  FROM 
ALL  AGES,  before  any  legislative  enact- 
ments were  drawn  up  in  writing,  or  any  po- 
litical governments  constituted. 

And  is  this  America?  "THE  LAND  OF 
THE  FREE,  AND  THE  HOME  OF  THE 
BRAVE"? 

.....    the  seat  of  innocence 
Where  Nature  guides  and  virtue  rules 
Where  men  shall  not  impose  for  truth  and  sense 
The  pedantry  of  courts  and  schools? 

WALLACE  E.  NEVILL. 


2929  Sacramento  St., 
San  Francisco. 


March,  1901. 


